


A>' '- 



.0^ 



■ o 0^ 



V 



"^^ / 



,^- 'c^. 



: .^'' 







^'£f^ 






.0- 












•</' 






A^ .V> 



■0' 



■\. 






3> ^<^. 



-^,# :^^' 






vV -J-, 



v^^-^>.. 



-^" V 



^^'^^ -^^ <^ ^i"'^ 







.< ^ri 



^^ * . S ^ \^ 






A 









><> '"'' 



"-.. 



THE CITIZEN-SOLDIER; 



OR, 



MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 



BY 

JOHN BEATTY 



579, o;^ 



ijvo ±UlA. 

Vc>^ 1879, .cx'^. 

> '^ OF \^lp^ 



CINCINNATI: 

WILSTACH, BALDWIN & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

Nos. r4i AND 143 Race Street. 

1879. 



^Lo/ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, ^Y 

ELLEN B. HENDERSON, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TO MY BROTHER, 

MAJOR WILLIAM GURLEY BEATTY, 

WHOSE GENEROUS SACRIFICE OF HIS OAVN INCLINATION AT THE 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR, AND FAITHFUL DEVOTION 

TO MY FAMILY AND BUSINESS, 

ENABLED ME TO ENTER THE ARMY AND REMAIN THREE YEARS, 

This volu me 
is respectfully and affectionately inscribed. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In the lifetime of all who arrive at mature age, 
there comes a period when a strong desire is felt to 
know more of the past, especially to know more of 
those from whom we claim descent. Many find even 
their chief pleasure in searching among parish records 
and local histories for some knowledge of ancestors, 
who for a hundred or five hundred yeai's have been 
sleeping in the grave. Long pilgrimages are made to 
the Old World for this purpose, and when the traveler 
discovers in the crowded church-yard a moss covered, 
crumbling stone, which bears the name he seeks, he 
takes infinite ])ii\n9 to decipher the half-obliterated 
epitaph, and finds in this often what he regards as 
ample remuneration for all his trouble. How vastly 
greater would be his satisfaction if he could obtain 
even the simplest and briefest history of those in 
whom he takes so deep an intei*est. Who were they? 
How were their days spent, and amongst what sur- 
roundings? W^hat were their thoughts, fears, hopes, 
acts? Who were their associates, and on which side 
of the great questions of the day did they stand? A 
full or even partial answer to these queries would pos- 
sess for him an incalculable value. 

So, sitting here to-night, in my little library, with 
wife and children near, and by God's great kindness 



VI INTRODUCTORY. 

all in life and health, I look forward one, two, five 
hundred years, and see in each succeeding century, and 
possibly in each generation, so long as the name shall 
last, a wonder-eyed boy, curious youth, or inquisitive 
old man, exploring closets and libraries for things of 
the old time, stumbling finally on this volume, Avhich 
has, by the charity of the State Librarian, still been 
preserved; he discovers, with quickening pulse, that it 
bears his own name, and that it was written for him 
hy one whose body has for centuries been dust. Bull 
and uninteresting as it may be to others, for him it 
will possess an inexpressible charm. It is his own 
blood speaking to him from the shadowy and almost 
forgotten past. The message may be poorly written, 
the matter in the main may be worthless, and the 
greater events recorded may be dwarfed by more re- 
cent and important ones, but the volume is neverthe- 
less of absorbing interest to him, for by it he is enabled 
to look into the face and heart of one of his own kin, 
who lived when the Nation was young. In leaving 
this unpretentious record, therefore, I seek to do simply 
what I would have had my fathers do for me. 

Kinsmen of the coming centuries, I bid you hail and 
godspeed ! 

Columbus, December IG, 1878. 



The Third Ohio Yolnntecr Infantry served under 
two separate terms of enlistment — the one for three 
months, and the other for three years. 

The regiment was organized April 21, 1861, and on 



INTRODUCTORY. yil 

April 27th it was mustered into the United States 
service, with the following field officers: Isanc H. 
Marrow, Colonel ; John Beatty, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
and J. Warren Keifer, Major. 

The writer's record begins with the day on which 
his regiment entered Virginia, June 22, 1861, and ends 
on January 1, 1864. He does not undertake to present 
a history of the organizations with which he was con- 
nected, nor does he attempt to describe the opera- 
tions of armies. His record consists merely of matters 
which came under his own observation, and of camp 
gossip, rumors, ti-ifling incidents, idle speculations, and 
the numberless items, small and great, which, in one 
way and another, enter into and affect the life of a sol- 
dier. In short, he has sought simply to gather up the 
scraj^s which fell in his w^ay, leaving to other and more 
competent hands the weightier matters of the great 
civil war. 

Many errors of opinion and of fact he might now 
correct, and many items which appear unworthy of a 
paragraph he might now strike out, but he prefers to 
leave the record as it w^as w^ritten, when cyclopedias 
could not be consulted, nor time taken for thorough in- 
vestigation. 

Who can really know what an army is unless he 
mingles with the individuals who compose it, and 
learns how they live, think, talk, and act? 



THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; 



OR, 



MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 



JUNE, 1861. 



22. Arrived at Bellaire at 3 p. m. There is 
trouble in the neighborhood of Grafton. Have been 
ordered to that place. 

The Third is now on the Virginia side, and will 
in a few minutes take the cars. 

23. Reached Grafton at 1 p. m. All avowed 
secessionists have run away ; but there are, doubtless, 
many persons here still who sympathize with the 
enemy, and who secretly inform him of all our 
movements. 

24. Colonel Marrow and I dined with Colonel 
Smith, member of the Virginia Legislature. He 
professes to be a Union man, but his sympathies are 
evidently with the South. He feels that the South is 
wrong, but does not relish the idea of Ohio troops 



10 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [June, 

coming upon Virginia soil to figlit Virginians. The 
Union sentiment here is said to be strengthening 
daily. 

26. Arrived at Clarksburg about midnight^ and 
remained on the cars until morning. We are now 
encamped on a hillside, and for the first time my bed 
is made in my own tent. 

Clarksburg has apparently stood still for fifty years. 
Most of the houses are old style, built by the fathers 
and grandfathers of the present occupants. Here, for 
the first time, Ave find slaves, each of the wealthier, 
or, rather, each of the well-to-do, families owning 
a few. 

There are probably thirty-five hundred troops in 
this vicinity — the Third, Fourth, Eighteenth, Nine- 
teenth, and part of the Twenty-second Ohio, one 
company of cavalrv, and one of artillery. Rumors 
of skirmishes and small fights a few miles off; but 
as yet the only gunpowder we have smelled is our 
own. 

28. At twelve o'clock to-day our battalion left 
Clarksburg, followed a stream called Elk creek for 
eight miles, and then encamped for the night. Tiiis 
is the first march on fi)ot we have made. The coun- 
try through which we passed is extremely hilly and 
broken, but a})parently fertile. If the people of 
AYesteru Virginia were united against us, it would be 
almost impossible for our army to advance. In many 
places the creek on one side, and the perpendicular 
banks on the other, leave a strip barely wide enough 
for a Avagon road. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 11 

Buckhannon, twenty miles in advance of us, is said 
to be in the hands of the secession troops. To-morrow, 
or the day after, if they do not leave, a battle will 
take place. Our men appear eager for the fray, and 
I pray they may be as successful in the fight as they 
are anxious for one. 

29. It is half-past eight o'clock, and we are still 
but eight miles from Clarksburg. We were informed 
this morning that the secession troops had left Buck- 
hannon, and fallen back to their fortifications at 
Laurel Hill and Rich mountain. It is said General 
McClellan will be here to-morrow, and take command 
of the forces in person. 

In enumerating the troops in this vicinity, I omit- 
ted to mention Colonel Robert McCook's Dutch regi- 
ment, Avhich is in camp two miles from us. The 
Seventh Ohio Infantry is now at Clarksburg, and will, 
I think, move in this direction to-morrow. 

Provisions outside of camp are very scarce. I took 
breakfast with a farmer this morning, and can say 
trul}^ that I have eaten much better meals in my life. 
We had coffee without sugar, short-cake without but- 
ter, and a little salt pork, exceedingly fat. I asked 
him what the charge was, and he said '^Ninepence,'' 
which means one shilling. I rejoiced his old soul by 
giving him two shillings. 

The country people here have been grossly deceived 
by their political leaders. They have been made to 
belie v^e that Lincoln was elected for the sole pur- 
pose of liberating the negro; that our army is 
marching into Virginia to free their slaves, destroy 



12 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Juns, 

their property, and murder their families; that we, 
not they, have set the Constitution and laws at de- 
fiance, and that in resisting us they are simply de- 
fending their homes and fighting for their constitu- 
tional rights. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 13 



JULY, 1861, 



2. Reached Buckhannon at 5 p. m., and encamped 
beside the Fourth Ohio, in a meadow, one mile from 
town. The country through which we marched is 
exceedingly hilly ; or, perhaps, I might say mountain- 
ous. The scenery is delightful. The road for miles 
is cut around great hills, and is just wide enough for 
a wagon. A step to the left would send one tumbling 
a hundred or two hundred feet below, and to the 
right the hills rise hundreds of feet above. The 
hills, half way to their summits, are covered with 
corn, wheat, or grass, while further up the forest is as 
dense as it could well have been a hundred years ago. 

3. For the first time to-day, I saw men bringing 
tobacco to market in bags. One old man brought a 
bag of natural leaf into camp to sell to the soldiers, 
price ten cents per pound. He brought it to a poor 
market, however, for the men have been bankrupt for 
weeks, and could not buy tobacco at a dime a bagfull. 

4. The Fourth has passed off quietly in the little 
town of Buckhannon and in camp. 

At ten o'clock the Third and Fourth Regiments 
were reviewed by General McClellan. The day was 
excessively warm, and the men, buttoned up in their 



14 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jclv, 

dress-coats, were much wearied when the parade was 
over. 

In the court-house this evening, the sokliers had 
w^hat they call a '' stag dance/^ Camp life to a young 
man w^ho has nothing specially to tie him to home 
has many attractions — abundance of company, con- 
tinual excitement, and all the fun and frolic that a 
thousand light-hearted boys can devise. 

To-night, in one tent, a dozen or more are singing 
" Dixie" at the top of their voices. In another ^' The 
Star-Spangled Banner '^ is being executed so horribly 
that even a secessionist ought to pity the poor tune. 
Stories, cards, w^restliug, boxing, racing, all these and 
a thousand other things enter into a day in camp. 
The roving, uncertain life of a soldier has a tendency 
to harden and demoralize most men. The restraints 
of home, family, and society are not felt. The fact 
that a few hours may put them in battle, where their 
lives will not be worth a fig, is forgotten. They think 
a hundred times less of the perils by which they may 
be surrounded than their friends do at home. They 
encourage and strengthen each other to such an ex- 
tent that, when exposed to danger, imminent though 
it be, they do not seem to realize it. 

7. On the 5th instant a scouting party, under Cap- 
tain Lawson, started for Middle Fork bridge, a point 
eighteen miles from camp. At eight o'clock last 
night, when I brought the battalion from the drill- 
ground, I found that a messenger had arrived with 
intelligence that Lawson had been surrounded by a 
force of probably four hundred, and that, in the en- 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 15 

gagement, one of his men had been killed and three 
wounded. The camp was alive with excitement. 
Each company of the Third had contributed five men 
to Captain Lawson's detachment, and each company, 
therefore, felt a special interest in it. The messenger 
stated that Captain Lawson was in great need of help, 
and General McClellan at once ordered four compa- 
nies of infantry and twenty mounted men to move to 
his assistance. I had command of the detachment, 
and left camp about nine o'clock P. m., accompanied 
by a guide. The night was dark. My command 
moved on silently and rapidly. After proceeding 
about three miles, we left the turnpike and turned 
onto a narrow, broken, bad road, leading through the 
woods, which we followed about eight miles, when 
Ave met Captain Lawson's detachment on its way 
back. Here we removed the wounded from the 
farm wagon in which they had been conveyed thus 
far, to an ambulance brought with us for the purpose, 
countermarched, and reached our quarters about three 
o'clock this morning. 

I will not undertake to give the details of Captain 
Lawson's skirmish. I may say, however, that the 
number of the enemy killed and wounded, lacel^ated 
and torn, by Corporal Casey, was beyond all compu- 
tation. Had the rebels not succeeded in getting a 
covered bridge between themselves and the invincible 
Irishman, he would, if we may believe his own state- 
ment, have annihilated the whole force, and brought 
back the head of their commanding officer on the 
point of his bayonet. 



J 
16 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

8. This mOrning, at seven o'clock, our tents were 
struck, and, with General McClellan and staff in ad- 
vance, we moved to Middle Fork bridge. It was 
here that Captain Lawson^s skirmish on Saturday had 
occurred. The man killed had been buried by the 
Fourth Ohio before our arrival. Almost every house 
along the road is deserted by the men, the women 
sometimes remaining. The few Union men of this 
section have, for weeks past, been hiding away in the 
hills. Now the secessionists have taken to the woods. 
The utmost bitterness of feeling exists between the 
two. A man was found to-day, within a half mile of 
this camp, with his head cut oif and entrails ripped 
out, probably a Union man who had been hounded 
down and killed. The Dutch regiment (McCookVj, 
when it took possession of the bridge, had a slight 
skirmish with the enemy, and, I learn, killed two 
men. On the day after to-morrow I apprehend the 
first great battle will be fought in AYestern Virginia. 
I ate breakfast in Buckhannon at six o'clock A. M., 
and now, at six o'clock p. m. am awaiting my second 
meal. 

The boys, I ascertain, searched one secession house 
on the road, and found three guns and a small amount 
of ammunition. The guns were hunting pieces, all 
loaded. The woman of the house was very indig- 
nant, and spoke in disrespectful terms of the Union 
men of the neighborhood, whom she suspected of in- 
stigating the search. She said she " had come from a 
higher sphere than they, and would not lay down with 
dogs." She Avas an Eastern A^irginia woman, and. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 17 

although poor as a church mouse, thought herself su- 
perior to AYest Virginia people. As an indication of 
this lady's refinement and loyalty, it is only necessary 
to say that a day or two before she had displayed s 
secession flag made, as she very frankly told the sol- 
diers, of the tail of an old shirt, with J. D. and S. C. 
on it, the letters standing for Jefferson Davis and the 
Southern Confederacy. 

Four or five thousand men are encamped here, 
huddled together in a little circular valley, with high 
hills surrounding. A company of cavalry is just go- 
ing by my tent on the road toward Beverly, probably 
to watch the front. 

As we were leaving camp this morning, an officer 
of an Ohio regiment rode at break -neck speed along 
the line, inquiring for General McClellan, and yelling, 
as he passed, that four companies of the regiment to 
which he belongs had been surrounded at Glendale, 
by twelve hundred secessionists, under O. Jennings 
Wise. Our men, misapprehending the statement, 
thought Buckhannon had been attacked, and were in 
a great state of excitement. 

The officers of General Schleich's staff were with 
me on to-day's march, and the younger members. 
Captains Hunter and Dubois, got off whatever poetry 
they had in them of a military cast. ^' On Linden 
when the sun was low,'' was recited to the hills 
of Western Virginia in a manner that must have 
touched even the stoniest of them. I could think 
of nothing but '^ There was a sound of revelry by 



18 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

night," and as this was not particularly applicable to 
the occasion, owing to the exceeding brightness of the 
sun, and the entire absence of all revelry, I thought 
best not to astonish my companions by exhibiting my 
knowledge of the poets. 

West Virginia hogs are the longest, lankest, boni- 
est animals in creation. I am reminded of this by 
that broth of an Irish lad, Conway, who says, in sub- 
stance, and with a broad Celtic accent, that their noses 
have to be sharpened every morning to enable them 
to pick a living among the rocks. 

Colonel ^Marrow informs me that an attack is ap- 
prehended to-night. We have sent out strong pick- 
ets. The cannon are so placed as to shoot up the 
road. Our regiment is to form on the left of the 
turnpike, and the Dutch regiment on the right, in 
case the secession forces should be bold enough to 
come down on us. 

9. Moved from the Middle Fork of the Buckhan- 
non river at seven o'clock this morning, and arrived at 
Roaring creek at four P. M. We came over the hills 
with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious Avar; 
infantry, cavalry, artillery, and hundreds of army 
wagons ; the whole stretching along the mountain 
road for miles. The tops of the Alleghanies can now 
be seen plainly. AVe are at the foot of Rich mount- 
ain, encamped where our brothers of the secession or- 
der pitched their tents last night. Our advance guard 
gave them a few shots and they fled precipitately 
to the mountains, burning the bridge behind them. 
When our regiment arrived a few shots were heard, 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 19 

and the bayonets and bright barrels of the enemy's 
guns could be seen on the hills. 

It clouded up shortly after, and before Ave had 
pitched our tents, the clouds came over Rich mount- 
ain, settling down upon and hiding its summit en- 
tirely. Heaven gave us a specimen of its artillery 
firing, and a heavy shower fell, drenching us all com- 
pletely. As I write, the sound of a cannon comes 
booming over the mountain. There it goes again ! 
Whether it is at Phillippi or Laurel Hill, I can not 
tell. Certain it is that the portion of our army ad- 
vancing up the Valley river is in battle, somewhere, 
and not many miles away. 

We do not know the strength of our opponents, 
nor the character and extent of their fortifications. 
These mountain passes must be ugly things to go 
through when in possession of an enemy ; our boys 
look forward, however, to a day of battle as one of 
rare sport. I do not. I endeavor to picture to my- 
self all its terrors, so that I may not be surprised and 
dumbfounded when the shock comes. Our army is 
probably now making one of the most interesting 
chapters of American history. God grant it may be 
a chapter our Northern people will not be ashamed 
to read ! 

I am not confident of a speedy termination of the 
war. These people are in the wrong, but have been 
made to believe they are in the right — that we are the 
invaders of their hearthstones, come to conquer and 
destroy. That they will fight with desperation, I 
have no doubt. Nature has fortified the countrv for 



20 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

them. He Is foolishly oversanguine who predicts an 
easy victory over such a people, iDtrenched amidst 
mountains and hills. I believe the war will run into 
a war of emancipation, and when it ends African 
slavery w^ill have ended also. It would not, perhaps, 
be politic to say so, but if I had the army in my own 
hands, I would take a short cut to what I am sure 
will be the end — commence the work of emancipation 
at once, and leave every foot of soil behind me free. 
10. From the best information obtainable, we are 
led to believe the mountains and hills lying between 
this place and Beverly are strongly fortified and full 
of men. We can see a part of the enemy's fortifica- 
tions very plainly from a hill west of camp. Our 
regiment was ordered to be in readiness to march, 
and was under arms two hours. During this time 
the Dutch regiment (McCook's), the Fourth Ohio, 
four pieces of artillery, one company of cavalry, Avith 
General McClellan, marched to the front, the Dutch- 
men in advance. They proceeded, say a mile, when 
they overhauled the enemy's pickets, and in the little 
skil-mish which ensued one man of McCook's regi- 
ment was shot, and two of the enemy captured. 
By these prisoners it is affirmed that eight or 
nine thousand men are in the hills before us, well 
armed, with heavy artillery planted so as to com- 
mand the road for miles. How true this is Ave can 
not tell. Enough, hoAA'CA'cr, has been learned to sat- 
isfy McClellan that it is not advisable to attack to- 
day. What surprises me is that the General should 
know so little about the character of the country, the 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 21 

number of the enemy, and the extent of his fortifi- 
cations. 

During the day, Colonel Marrow, apparently under 
a higli state of excitement, informed me that he had 
just had an interview with George (he usually speaks 
of General McClellan in this familiar way), that an 
attack was to be made, and the Third was to lead the 
column. He desired me, therefore, to get out my 
horse at once, take four men with me, and search the 
woods in our front for a practicable road to the en- 
emy. I asked if General McClellan had given him 
any information that would aid me in this enterprise, 
such as the position of the rebels, the location of their 
outposts, their distance from us, and the character of 
the country between .our camp and theirs. He re- 
plied that George had not. It occurred to me that 
four men were rather too few, if the work contem- 
plated was a reconnoissance, and rather too many if 
the service required was simply that for which spies 
are usually employed. I therefore spoke distrust- 
ingly of the proposed expedition, and questioned the 
propriety of sending so small a force, so utterly 
without information, upon 'so hazardous an enter- 
prise, and apparently so foolish a one. My lan- 
guage gave oifense, and wlien I finally inquired what 
four men I should take, the Colonel told me, rather 
abruptly, to take whom I pleased, and look where I 
pleased. His manner, rather than his words, indi- 
cated a doubt of my courage, and I turned from him, 
mounted my horse, and started for the front, determ- 
ined to obey the order to the best of my ability, but 



22 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jlly, 

to risk the lives of no others on what was evidently a 
fool's errand. After proceeding some distance, I 
found that the wagon-master was at my heels, and, 
together, Ave traced every cowpath and mountain road 
we could find, and passed half a mile beyond the 
enemy's outposts, and over ground visited by his 
scouts almost hourly. When I returned to make my 
report, I was curtly informed that no report was de- 
sired, as the plan had been changed. 

A little after midnight the Colonel returned from 
head-quarters with important information, which he 
desired to communicate to the regiment. The men 
were, therefore, ordered to turn out, and came hesi- 
tatingly and sleepily from their tents. They looked 
like shadows as they gathered in the darkness about 
their chieftain. It was the hour when graveyards are 
supposed to yawn, and the sheeted dead to walk 
abroad. The gallant Colonel, with a voice in perfect 
accord with the solemnity of the hour, and the 
funereal character of the scene, addressed us, in sub- 
stance, as follows: 

" Soldiers of the Third : The assault on the ene- 
my's works will be made in the early morning. The 
Third will lead the column. The secessionists have 
ten thousand men and forty rifled cannon. They 
are strongly fortified. They have more men and 
more cannon than we have. They will cut us to 
pieces. Marching to attack such an enemy, so in- 
trenched and so armed, is marchino: to a butcher- 
shop rather than to a battle. There is bloody work 



i86t.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 23 

ahead. Many of you, boys, will go oat who will never 
come back again.'' 

As this speech progressed my hair began to stiffen 
at the roots, and a chilly sensation like that which 
might ensue from the unexpected and clammy touch 
of the dead, ran through me. It was hard to die so 
young and so far from home. Theological questions 
which before had attracted little or no attention, 
now came uppermost in our minds. We thought of 
mothers, wives, sweethearts — of opportunities lost, 
and of good advice disregarded. Some soldiers 
kicked together the expiring fragments of a camp- 
fire, and the little blaze which sprang up revealed 
scores of pallid faces. In short, we all wanted to go 
home. 

When a boy I had read Plutarch, and knew some- 
thing of the great warriors of the old time; but I 
could not, for the life of me, recall an instance 
wherein they had made such an address to their sol- 
diers on the eve of battle. It was their habit, at 
such a time, to speak encouragingly and hopefully. 
With all due respect, therefore, for the superior rank 
and wisdom of the Colonel, I plucked him by the 
sleeve, took him one side, and modestly suggested 
that his speech had had rather a depressing eft'eet on 
the regiment, and had taken that spirit out of the 
boys so necessary to enable them to do well in battle. 
I urged him to correct the mistake, and speak to 
them hopefully. He replied that what he had said 
was true, and they should know the truth. 

The morning dawned ; but instead of beino: called 



24 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Julv, 

upon to lead the column, Ave were left to the inglori- 
ous duty of guarding tlie camp, while other regiments 
moved forward toward the enemy's line. In half an 
hour, in all probability, the work of destruction will 
commence. I began this memoranda on the evening 
of the 10th, and now close it on the morning of the 
11th. 

11. At 10 A. M. we were ordered to the front; 
passed quite a number of regiments on our way 
thither, and finally took position not far from the en- 
emy's works. AVe Avere now at the head of the col- 
umn. A small brook crossed the road at this point, 
and the thick Avoods concealed us from the enemy. 
A few rods further on, a bend in the road gaA^e us a 
good view of the entire front of his fortifications. 
Major Keifer and a few other gentlemen, in their 
anxiety to get more definite information in regard to 
the position of the secessionists, and the extent of 
their works, Avent up the road, and were saluted by a 
shot from their battery. We expected every mo- 
ment to receive an order to ad\^ance. After a time, 
however, Ave ascertained that Rosecrans, Avith a 
brigade, was seeking the enemy's rear by a mountain 
path, and Ave conjectured that, so soon as he had 
reached it, we Avould be ordered to make the assault 
in front. It Avas a dark, gloomy day, and the hours 
passed slowly. 

BetAveen two and three o'clock Ave heard shots in 
the rear of the fortifications ; then volleys of mus- 
ketry, and the roar of artillery. EA^ery man sprang 
to his feet, assured that the moment for makina: the 



t86i.l OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 25 

attack had arrived. General McClellaii and staff 
came galloping up, and a thousand faces turned to 
hear the order to advance; but no order was ffiven. 
The General halted a few paces from our line, and sat 
on his horse listening to the guns, apparently in 
doubt as to what to do ; and as he sat there with in- 
decision stamped on every line of his countenance, 
the battle grew fiercer in the enemy's rear. Every 
volley could be heard distinctly. There would occa- 
sionally be a lull for a moment, and then the uproar 
would break out again with increased violence. If 
the enemy is too strong for us to attack, what must be 
the fate of Rosecrans' four regiments, cut off from us, 
and struggling against such odds? Hours passed; 
and as the last straggling shots and final silence told 
us tlie battle had ended, gloom settled down on every 
soldier^s heart, and the belief grew strong that Rose- 
crans had been defeated, and his brigade cut to pieces 
or captured. This belief grew to certain conviction 
soon after, when we heard shout after shout go up 
from the fortifications in our front. 

Major Kelfer with two companies had, early in 
the afternoon, climbed the hill on our right to look 
for a position from which artillery could be used 
effectively. The ground over which he moved was 
broken and covered with a dense growth of trees and 
underbrush'; finally an elevation w^as discovered which 
commanded the enemy's camp, but before a road could 
be cut, and the artillery brought up, it was too late in 
the day to begin the attack. 
3 



26 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; IJULV, 

Night came on. It was intensely dark. About 
nine o^clock we were ordered to withdraw our pickets 
quietly and return to our old quarters. On our way 
thither a rou2;h voice cried : " Halt ! Who comes 
there ?" And a thousand shadowy forms sprang up 
before us. The challenge Avas from Colonel Eobert 
McCook, and the regiment his. The scene reminded 
me of the one where 

"That whistle garrisoned the glea 
At once with full five hundred men, 
As if the yawning hill to heaven 
A subterranean host had given." 

12. AYe were rejoiced this morning to hear of 
Rosecrans^ success, and, at the same time, not well 
pleased at the escape of the enemy under cover of 
night. We Avere ordered to move, and got under 
way at eight o^clock. On the road we met General 
Rosecrans and staff. He was jubilant, as well he 
might be, and as he rode by received the congratula- 
tions of the officers and cheers of the men. 

Arriving on yesterday's battlefield, the regiment 
was allowed a half hour for rest. The dead had 
been gathered and placed in a long trench, which 
was still open. The Avounded of both armies were 
ill hospital, receiving the attention of the surgeons. 
There were a few prisoners, most of them too un- 
well to accompany their friends in retreat. 

Soon after reaching the summit of Rich mountain, 
we caught glimpses of Tygart's valley, and of Cheat 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 27 

mountain beyond, and before nightfall reached Bev- 
erly and went into camp. 

13. Six or eight hundred Southern troops sent in 
a flag of truce, and surrendered unconditionally. 
They are a portion of the force which fought Rose- 
crans at Rich mountain, and Morris at Laurel Hill. 

We started up the Valley river at seven o'clock 
this morning, our regiment in the lead. Found most 
of the houses deserted. Both Union men and seces- 
sionists had fled. The Southern troops, retreating in 
this direction, had frightened the people greatly, by 
telling them that we shot men, ravished women, and 
destroyed property. When within three-quarters of 
a mile of Huttonville, we were informed that forty 
or fifty mounted secessionists were there. The order 
to double-quick was given, and the regiment entered 
the village on a run. As we made a turn in the 
road, we discovered a squad of cavalry retreating 
rapidly. The bridge over the river had been burned, 
and was still smoking. Our troops sent up a hurrah 
and quickened their pace, but they had already trav- 
eled eleven miles on a light breakfast, and were not 
in condition to run down cavalry. That we might 
not lose at least one shot at the enemy, I got an En- 
field rifle from one of the men, galloped forward, and 
fired at the retreating squad. It was the best shot I 
could make, and I am forced to say it was a very poor 
one, for no one fell. On second thought, it occurred 
to me that it would have been criminal to have killed 
one of these men, for his death could have had no 
possible eifect on tlie result of the war. 



28 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

Hiittonville is a very small place at the foot of 
Cheat mountain. We halted there perhaps one hour, 
to await the arrival of General McClelhm; and when 
he came up, were ordered forward to secure a mount- 
ain pass. It is thought fifteen hundred secessionists 
are a few miles ahead, near the top of the mountain. 
Two Indiana regiments and one battery are with us. 
More troops are probably following. 

The man who owns the farm on which we are en- 
camped is, with his family, sleeping in the woods to- 
night, if, indeed, he sleeps at all. 

14. The Ninth and Fourth Ohio, Fifteenth Indi- 
ana, and one company of cavalry, started up the 
mountain between seven and eight o'clock. The 
Colonel being unw^ell, I followed with the Third. 
Awful rumors were afloat of fortifications and rebels 
at the top; but we found no fortifications, and as for 
the rebels, they were scampering for Staunton as fast 
as their legs could carry them. 

This mountain scenery is magnificent. As we 
climbed the Cheat the views were the grandest I ever 
looked upon. Nests of hills, ajipearing like eggs 
of the mountain; ravines so dark that one could not 
guess their depth ; openings, the ends of which 
seemed lost in a blue mist; broken-backed mount- 
ains, long mountains, round mountains, mountains 
sloping gently to the summit; others so steep a 
squirrel could hardly climb them; fatherly mount- 
ains, with their children clustered about them, clothed 
in birch, pine, and cedar; mountain streams, spark- 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 29 

ling now in the sunlight, then dasliing down into ap- 
parently fathomless abysses. 

It was a beautiful day, and the march was delight- 
ful. The road is crooked beyond description, but 
very solid and smooth. 

The farmer on whose premises we are encamped 
has returned from the woods. He has discovered 
that we are not so bad as we were reported. Most of 
the negroes have been left at home. Many were in 
camp to-day with corn-bread, pies, and cakes to sell. 
Fox, my servant, went out this afternoon and bought 
a basket of bread. He brought in two chickens also, 
which he said w^re presented to him. I suspect Fox 
does not always tell the truth. 

16. The Fourteenth Indiana and one company of 
cavalry went to the summit this morning to fortify. 

The Colonel has gone to Beverly. The boys repeat 
his Rich mountain speech with slight variations : 
" Men, there are ten thousand secessionists in Rich 
mountain, with forty rifled cannon, well fortified. 
There 's bloody work ahead. You are going to a 
butcher-shop rather than a battle. Ten thousand 
men and forty rifled cannon ! Hostler, you d — d 
scoundrel, why don't you wipe Jerome's nose?" 
Jerome is the Colonel's horse, kno\vn in camp as the 
White Bull. 

Conway, who has been detailed to attend to the 
Colonel's horses, is almost as good a speech-maker as 
the Colonel. This, in brief, is Conway's address to 
the White Bull : 

^' Stand still there, now, or I'll make yer stand 



30 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

still. Hold up yer head there, now, or I ^11 make 
yer hold it up. Keep quiet; what the h — 11 yer 
'bout there, now ? D — n you ! do you want me to hit 
you a lick over the snoot, now — do you? Are you a 
inviten' me to pound you over the head with a saw- 
log ? D — n yer ugly pictures, whoa !" 

18. This afternoon, when riding down to Hutton- 
ville, I met three or four hundred sorry-looking sol- 
diers. They were without arms. On inquiry, I 
found they were a part of the secession army, who, 
finding no way of escape, had come into our lines 
and surrendered. They were badly dressed, and a 
hard, dissolute-looking lot of men. To use the lan- 
guage of one of the soldiers, tliey were " a milk- 
sickly set of fellows,^' and would have died oif prob- 
ably without any help from us if they had been kept 
in the mountains a little longer. They were on their 
way to Staunton. General McClellan had very gen- 
erously provided them with provisions for three days, 
and wagons to carry the sick and wounded ; and so, 
footsore, weary, and chopfallen, they go over the 
hills. 

An unpleasant rumor is in camp to-night, to the 
effect that General Patterson has been defeated at 
Williarasport. This, if true, will counterbalance our 
successes in Western Virginia, and make the game 
an even one. 

The Southern soldiers mentioned above are en- 
camped for the night a little over a mile from here. 
About dusk I walked over to their camp. They 
were gathered around their fires preparing supper. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 31 

Many of theia say they were deceived, and entered 
the service because tliey were led to believe that tlic 
Northern army would confiscate their property, lib- 
erate their slaves, and play the devil generally. As 
they thought this was true, there was nothing left for 
them to do but to take up arms and defend themselves. 
While we were at Buckhannon, an old farmer- 
looking man visited us daily, bringing tobacco, corn- 
bread, and cucumber pickles. This innocent old gen- 
man proves to have been a spy, and obtained his 
reward in the loss of a leg at Rich mountain. 

19. To-day, eleven men belonging to a company 
of cavalry which accompanied the Fourteenth Indi- 
ana to the Summit, were sent out on a scouting expe- 
dition. When about ten miles from camp, on the op- 
posite side of the mountain, they halted, and while 
watering their horses were fired upon. One man w^as 
killed and three wounded. The other seven fled. 
Colonel Kimball sent out a d^tacliment to bring in 
the wounded ; but whether it succeeded or not I 
liave not heard. 

A musician belonging to the Fourth Ohio, when 
six miles out of Beverly, on his way to Phillippi, 
was fired upon and instantly killed. So goes what 
little there is of war in Western Virginia. 

20. The most interesting of all days in the mount- 
ains is one on which the sky is filled with floating 
clouds, not hiding it entirely, but leaving here and 
there patches of blue. Then the shadows shift from 
place to place, as the moving clouds either let in the 
sunshine or exclude it. Standing at my tent-door at 



32 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jllv, 

eleven o^clock in the morning, with a stiff breeze go- 
ing, and the clouds on the wing, we see a peak, now 
in the sunshine, then in the shadow, and the lights 
and shadows chasing each other from point to point 
over the mountains, presenting altogether a pano- 
rama most beautiful to look upon, and such an one as 
God only can present. 

I can almost believe now that men become, to 
some extent, like the country in which they live. In 
the plain country the inhabitants learn to traffic, 
come to regard money-getting as the great object in 
life, and have but a dim perception of those higher 
emotions from which spring the noblest acts. In a 
mountain country God has made many things 
sublime, and some things very beautiful. The 
rugged, the smooth, the sunshine, and the shadow 
meet one at every turn. Here are peaks getting the 
earliest sunlight of the morning, and the latest of 
the evening; ravines so deep the light of day can 
never penetrate them ; bold, rugged, perpendicular 
rocks, which have breasted the storms for ages ; gen- 
tle slopes, swelling away until their summits seem 
to dip in the blue sky; streams, cold and clear, leap- 
ing from crag to crag, and rushing down nobody 
knows whither. Like the country, may we not look 
to find the people unpolished, rugged and uneven, 
capable of the noblest heroism or the most infernal 
villainy — their lives full of lights and shadows, eleva- 
tions and depressions ? 

The mountains, rising one above another, suggest, 
forcibly enough, the infinite power of the Creator, 



i86i.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 33 

and when the peaks come in contact with the clouds 
it requires but little imagination to make one feel 
that God, as at Sinai, has set His foot upon the earth, 
and that earth and heaven are really very near each 
other. 

21. This morning, at two o'clock, I was rattled up 
by a sentinel, who had come to camp in hot haste to 
inform me that he had seen and fired upon a body of 
twenty-five or more men, probably the advance guard 
of the enemy. He desired me to send two companies 
to strengthen the outpost. I preferred, however, to 
go myself to the scene of the trouble ; and, after inves- 
tigation, concluded that the guard had been alarmed 
by a couple of cows. 

Another lot of secession prisoners, some sixty 
in number, passed by this afternoon. They were 
higlily pleased with the manner in which they had 
been treated by their captors. 

The sound of a musket is just heard on the picket 
post, three-quarters of a mile away, and the shot is 
being repeated by our line of sentinels. ^ ^ ^ 
The whole camp has been in an uproar. Many men, 
half asleep, rushed from their tents and fired off their 
guns in their company grounds. Others, supposing 
the enemy near, became excited and discharged theirs 
also. The tents were struck, Loomis' First Michigan 
Battery manned, and we awaited the attack, but none 
was made. It was a false alarm. Some sentinel 
probably halted a stump and fired, thus rousing a 
thousand men from their warm beds. This is the 
first night alarm we have had. 



34 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

22. We hear that General Cox has been beaten on 
the Kanawha; that our forces have been repulsed at 
Manassas Gap, and that our troops have been unsuc- 
cessful in Missouri. I trust the greater part, if not 
all, of this is untrue. 

We have been expecting orders to march, but they 
have not come. The men are very anxious to be 
moving, and when moving, strange to say, always 
very anxious to stop. 

23. Officers and men are low-spirited to-night. 
The news of yesterday has been confirmed. Our 
army has been beaten at Manassas with terrible loss. 
General McClellan has left Beverly for Washington. 
General Kosecrans will assume command in Western 
Virginia. AVe are informed that twenty miles from 
us, in the direction of Staunton, some three thousand 
secessionists are in camp. We shall probably move 
against them. 

24. The news from Manassas Junction is a little 
more cheering, and all feel better to-day. 

We have now a force of about four thousand men 
in this vicinity, and two or three thousand at Bev- 
erly. We shall be in telegraphic communication 
with the North to-morrow. 

The moon is at its full to-night, and one of the 
most beautiful sights I have Avitnessed was its rising 
above the mountain. First the sky lighted up, then 
a halo appeared, then the edge of the moon, not 
bigger than a star, then the half-moon, not semi-circu- 
lar, but blazing up like a great gaslight, and, finally, 
the full, round moon had climbed to the top, and 



r86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 35 

seemed to stop a moment to rest and look down on 
the valley. 

27. The Colonel left for Ohio to-day, to be gone 
two weeks. 

I came from the quarters of Brigadier-General 
Schleich a few minutes ago. He is a three-months' 
brigadier, and a rampant demagogue. Schleich said 
that slaves who accompanied their masters to the 
field, when captured, should be sent to Cuba and sold 
to pay the expenses of the war. I suggested that it 
would be better to take them to Canada and liberate 
them, and that so soon "as the Government began to 
sell negroes to pay the expenses of the war I would 
throw up my commission and go home. Schleich was 
a State Senator when the war began. He is what 
might be called a tremendous little man, swears terri- 
bly, and imagines that he thereby shows his snap. 
Snap, in his opinion, is indispensable to a military 
man. If snap is the only tiling a soldier needs, and 
profanity is snap, Schleich is a second Napoleon. 
This General Snap will go home, at the expiration of 
his three-months' term, un regretted by officers and 
men. M;\jor Hugh Ewing will return with him. 
Last night the Major became thoroughly elevated, 
and he is not quite sober yet. He thinks, when in 
his cups, that our generals are too careful of their 
men. ''What are a th-thousand men," said he, 
''when (hie) principle is at stake? Men's lives (hie) 
should n't be thought of at such a time (hie). 
Amount to nothing (hie). Our generals are too d — d 
slow" (hie). The Major is a man of excellent nat- 



36 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

ural capacity, the son of Hon. Thomas Ewing, of 
Lancaster, and brother-in-hiw of W. T. Sherman, 
now a colonel or brigadier-general in the army. W. 
T. Sherman is the brother of John Sherman. 

The news from Manassas is very bad. The dis- 
graceful flight of our troops Avill do us more injury,, 
and is more to be regretted, tlsan the loss of fifty 
thousand men. It will impart new life, courage, and 
confidence to our enemies. They will say to their 
troops : ''You see how these scoundrels run when you 
stand up to them.^' 

29. Was slightly unwell this morning; but about 
noon accompanied General Reynolds, Colonel Wag- 
ner, Colonel Heffron, and a squad of cavalry, up 
the valley, and returned somewhat tired, but quite 
well. Lieutenant-Colonel Owen was also of the 
party. He is fifty or fifty-five years old, a thin, 
spare man, of very ordinary personal appearance, but 
of fine scientific and literary attainments. For some 
years he was a professor in a Southern military 
school. He has held the position of State Geologist 
of Indiana, and is the son of the celebrated Robert 
J. Owen, who founded the Communist Society at 
New Harmony, Indiana. Every sprig, leaf, and stem 
on the route suggested to Colonel Owen something to 
talk about, and he proved to be a very entertaining 
companion. 

General Reynolds is a graduate of West Point, and 
has the theory of war completely; but whether he has 
the broad, practical common sense, more important 
than book knowledge, time will determine. As yet 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 37 

he is an untried quantity, and, therefore, unknown. 
30. About two o'clock p. m., for want of some- 
thing better to do, I climbed the high mountain in 
front of our camp. The side is as steep as the roof 
of a gothic house. By taking hold of bushes and 
limbs of trees, after a half hour of very hard work, I 
managed to get to the top, completely exhausted. 
The outlook was magnificent. Tygart's valley, the 
river winding through it, and a boundless succession 
of mountains and ridges, all lay before me. My atten- 
tion, however, was soon diverted from the landscape to 
the huckleberries. They Avere abundant; and now and 
then I stumbled on patches of delicious raspberries. 
I remained on the mountain, resting and picking 
berries, until half-past four. • I must be in camp at 
six to post my pickets, but there was no occasion for 
haste. So, after a time, I started leisurely down, not 
the way I had come up, but, as I supposed, down the 
eastern slope, a way, apparently, not so steep and dif- 
ficult as the one by which I had ascended. I trav- 
eled on, through vines and bushes, over fallen timber, 
and under great trees, from which I could scarcely 
obtain a glimpse of the sky, until finally I came to a 
mountain stream. I expected to find the road, not 
the stream, and began to be a little uncertain as to 
my whereabouts. After reflection, T concluded I 
would be most likely to reach camp by going up the 
stream, and so started. Trees in many places had 
fallen across the ravine, and my progress was neither 
easy nor rapid; but I pushed on as best I could. I 
never knew so well before Avhat a mountain stream 



38 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

was. I scrambled over rocks and fallen trees, and 
through thickets of laurel, until I was completely 
worn out. Lying down on the rocks, which in high 
water formed part of the bed of the stream, I took a 
drink, looked at my watch, and found it was half-past 
five. My pickets were to be posted at six. Having 
but a half hour left, I started on. I could see no 
opening yet. The stream twisted and turned, keep- 
ing no one general direction for tweity rods, and 
hardly for twenty feet. It grew smaller, and as the 
ravine narrowed the Avay became more difficult. Six 
o^clock had now come. I could not see the sun, and 
only occasionally could get glimpses of the sky. I 
began to realize that I was lost; but concluded finally 
that I would climb the mountain again, and ascertain, 
if I could, in what direction the camp lay. I have 
had some hard tramps, and have done some hard 
work, but never labored half so hard in a whole week 
as I did for one hour in getting up that mountain, 
pushing through vines, climbing over logs, breaking 
through brush. Three or four times I lay down out 
of breath, utterly exhausted, and thought I would 
proceed no further until morning; but when I 
thought of my pickets, and reflected that General 
Reynolds would not excuse a trip so foolish and 
untimely, I made new efforts and pushed on. Finally 
I reached the summit of the mountain, but found it 
not the one from which I had descended. Still 
higher mountains were around me. The trees and 
bushes were so dense I could hardly see a rod before 
me. It was now seven oVlock, an hour after the 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 39 

time when I shoukl have been in camp. I lay clown, 
determined to remain all night ; but my clothing was 
SO thin that I soon became chilly, and so got up and 
started on again. Once I became entangled in a 
wilderness of grapevines and briers, and had much 
ditBculty in getting through them. It was now half- 
past seven, and growing dark ; but, fortunately, at this 
time, I heard a dog bark, a good way oiF to the right, 
and, turning in that direction, I came to a cowpath. 
Which end of it should I take? Either end, I con- 
cluded, would be better than to remain where I was ; 
so I worked myself into a dog-trot, wound down 
around the side of the mountain, and reached the 
road, a mile and a half south of camp, and went to 
my quarters fast as my legs could carry me. I found 
my detail for picket duty waiting and wondering what 
could so detain the officer of the day. 

31. The Fifteenth Indiana, Colonel Wagner, 
moved up the valley eight miles. 

The sickly months are now on us. Considerable 
dysentery among the men, and many reported unfit 
for duty. 

My limbs are stiff* and sore from yesterday's exer- 
cise, but my adventure proves to have been a lucky 
one. The mountain path I stumbled on was un- 
known to us before, and we find, on inquiry, that it 
leads over the ridges. The enemy might, by taking 
this path, follow it up during the day, encamp almost 
within our picket lines without being discovered, and 
then, under cover of night, or in the early morning. 



40 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jlly, 

come clown upon us while we were in our beds. It 
will be picketed hereafter. 

A private of Company E wrote home that he had 
killed two secessionists. A Zanesville paper pub- 
lished the letter. When the boys of his company 
read it they obtained spades, called on the soldier who 
had drawn so heavily on the credulity of his friends, 
and told him they had come to bury the dead. The 
poor fellow protested, apologized, and excused him- 
self as best he could, but all to no purpose. He is 
never likely to hear the last of it. 

I am reminded that when coming from Bellaire to 
Fetter man, a soldier doing guard duty on the railroad 
said that a few mornings before he had gone out, 
killed two secessionists who were just sitting down to 
breakfast, and then eaten the breakfast himself. 



i36i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 41 



AUGUST, 1861, 



1. It is said the pickets of the Fourteenth Indi- 
ana and the enemy's cavalry came in collision to-day, 
and that three of the latter were killed. 

It is now 9 P. M. Sergeants are calling the roll 
for the last time to-night. In half an hour taps will 
be sounded and the lights extinguished in every pri- 
vate's tent. The first call in the morning, reveille, is 
at five; breakfast call, six; surgeon's call, seven; 
drill, eight; recall, eleven; dinner, twelve; drill 
again at four; recall, five; guard-mounting, half-past 
five; first call for dress-parade, six; second call, half- 
past six ; tattoo at nine, and taps at half-past. So the 
day goes round. 

Hardee for a month or more was a book of impene- 
trable mysteries. The Avords conveyed no idea to my 
mind, and the movements described were utterly be- 
yond my comprehension ; but now the Avhole thing 
comes almost w^ithout study. 

2. Jerrolaman went out this afternoon and picked 
nearly a peck of blackberries. Berries of various 
kinds are very abundant. The fox-grape is also found 
in great plenty, and as big as one's thumb. 

4 



42 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [ArGUST, 

The Indianians are great ramblers. Lieutenant 
Bell says they can be traced all over the country, for 
they not only eat all the berries, but nibble the thorns 
off the bushes. 

General Reynolds told me, this evening, he thought 
it probable we would be attacked soon. Have been 
distributing ammunition, forty rounds to the man. 

My black horse was missing this morning. Con- 
way looked for him the greater part of the day, and 
finally found him in possession of an Indiana captain. 
It happened in this way : Captain Eupp, Thirteenth 
Indiana, told his men he would give forty dollars for 
a sesesh horse, and they took my horse out of the pas- 
ture, delivered it to him, and got the money. He 
rode the horse up the valley to Colonel Wagner's sta- 
tion, and when he returned bragged considerably over 
his good luck ; but about dark Conway interviewed 
him on the subject, when a change came o'er the 
spirit of his dream. Colonel Sullivan tells me the 
officers now talk to Rupp about the fine points of his 
horse, ask to borrow him, and desire to know when 
he proposes to ride again. 

A little group of soldiers are sitting around a 
camp-fire, not far away, entertaining each other with 
stories and otherwise. Just now one of them lifts up 
his voice, and in a melancholly strain sings : 

Somebody " is weeping 

For gallant Andy Gray, 
Who now in death lies sleeping 
On the field of Monterey." 



i86i.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER." 43 

While I write lie strikes into another aii% and these 
are the words as I catch them: 

" Come back, come back, my piirty fair maid ! 
Ten thousand of iwy j bit iire on you I will bestow 
If you '11 consent to marry me ; 
Oh, do not say me no." 

But the maid is indiiferent to jintures, and re- 
plies indignantly: 

" Oh, hold your tongue, captain, your words are all in vain ; 
I have a handsome sweetheart now across the main, 
And if I do not find him I'll mourn continuali." 

More of this interesting dialogue between the cap- 
tain and the pretty lair maid I can not catch. 

The sky is clear, but the night very dark. I do 
not contemplate my ride to the picket posts with any 
great degree of pleasure. A cowardly sentinel is 
more likely to shoot at you than a brave one. The 
fears of the former do not give him time to consider 
whether the person advancing is friend or foe. 

3. We hear of the enemy daily. Colonel Kim- 
ball, on the mountain, and Colonel Wagner, up the 
valley, are both in hourly expectation of an attack. 
The enemy, encouraged by his successes at Manassas, 
will probably attempt to retrieve his losses in Western 
Virginia. 

4. At one o'clock p. M. General Reynolds sent for 
me. Two of Colonel Wagner's companies had been 
surrounded, and an attack on Wagner's position ex- 
pected to-night. The enemy reported three thousand 



44 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

stroiiof. He desired me to send half of mv repiment 
and two of Loomis' guns to the support of AVagner. 
I took six companies and started up the valley. 
Reached Wagner's quarters at six o'clock. Brought 
neither tents nor provisions, and to-night Avill turn in 
with the Indianians. 

It is true that the enemy number three thousand ; 
the main body being ten or fifteen miles away. Their 
pickets and ours, however, are near each other ; but 
General Reynolds was misinformed as to two of 
Wagner's companies. They had not been surrounded. 

To-morrow Colonel Wagner and I will make a 
reconnoissance, and ascertain if the rebels are ready 
to fight. Wagner has six hundred and fifty men fit 
for duty, and I have four hundred. Besides these, 
we have three pieces of artillery. Altogether, we 
expect to be able to hoe them a pretty good row, if 
they should advance on us. Four of the enemy were 
captured to-day. A company of cavalry is approach- 
ing. ^'Halt! who comes there?" cries the sentinel. 
" Lieutenant Denny, without the countersign." " All 
right," shouts Colonel Wagner, " let him come." 
I Avrite with at least four fleas hopping about on my 
legs. 

5. To-day we felt our way up the valley eight 
miles, but did not reach the rebels. 

To-night our pickets Avere sure they heard firing 
off in the direction of Kanawha. If so, Cox and 
Wise must be having a pleasant little interchange of 
lead. 

The chaplain of the Thirteenth Indiana is the 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 45 

counterpart of Scott's Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst, 
or the fighting friar of the times of Robin Hood. 
In answer to some request he has just said that he will 
" go to thunder before doing it." The first time I 
saw this fighting parson was at the burnt bridge near 
Huttonville. He had two revolvers and a hatchet in 
his belt, and appeared more like a firebrand of war 
than a minister of peace. I now hear the rough 
voice of a braggadocio captain in the adjoining tent, 
who, if we may believe his own story, is the most 
formidable man alive. His hair-breadth escapes are 
innumerable, and his anxiety to get at the enemy is 
intense. Is it not ancient Pistol come again to aston- 
ish the world by deeds of reckless daring? 

We have sent out a scouting party, and hope to 
learn something more of the rebels during the night. 
Wagner, Major Wood, Captain Abbott, and others 
are having a game of whist. 

6. Our camp equipage came up to-day, so that we 
are now in our own tents. 

Four of my companies are on picket, scattered up 
the valley for miles, and half of the other two are 
doing guard duty in the neighborhood of the camp. 
I do not, by any means, approve of throwing out 
such heavy pickets and scattering our men so much. 
We are in the presence of a force probably twice as 
large as our own, and should keep our troops well in 
hand. 

Our scouts have been busy ; but, although they 
have brought in a few prisoners, mostly farmers resid- 
ing in the vicinity of the enemy's camp, w^e have ob- 



46 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

tained but little information respecting the rebels. I 
intend to send out a scouting party in the morning. 
Lieutenant Driscoll Avill command it. He is a brave, 
and, I think, prudent officer, and will leave camp at 
four o'clock, follow the road six miles, then take to 
the mountains, and endeavor to reach a point where 
he can overlook the enemy and estimate his strength. 

7. The scouting party sent out this morning were 
conveyed by wagons six miles up the valley, and were 
to take to the mountains, half a mile beyond. I in- 
structed Lieutenant Driscoll to exercise the utmost 
caution, and not take his men further than he thought 
reasonably safe. Of course perfect safety is not ex- 
pected. Our object, however, is to get information, 
not to give it by losing the squad. 

At eleven o'clock a courier came in hot haste from 
the front, to inform us that a flag of truce, borne by 
a Confederate major, with an escort of six dragoons, 
was on the way to camp. Colonel Wagner and I 
rode out to meet the party, and were introduced to 
Major Lee, the son, as I subsequently ascertained, of 
General Robert E. Lee, of Virginia. The Major in- 
formed us that his communication could only be im- 
parted to our General, and a courier was at once dis- 
patched to Huttonville. 

At four o'clock General Reynolds 'arrived, accom- 
panied by Colonel Sullivan and a company of cavalry. 
Wagner and I joined the General's party, and all gal- 
loped to the outpost, to interview the Confederate ma- 
jor. His letter contained a proposition to exchange 
prisoners captured by the rebels at Manassas for those 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 47 

taken at Rich niountaiii. The General appointed a 
day on which a definite answer shoukl be returned, 
and Major Lee, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Owen and myself, rode to the outlying picket station, 
where his escort had been halted and detained. 

Major Lee is near my own age, a heavy set, but 
well-proportioned man, somewhat inclined to boast, 
not overly profound, and thoroughly impregnated 
with the idea that he is a Virginian and a Lee withal. 
As I shook hands at parting with this scion of an 
illustrious house, he complimented me by saying that 
he hoped soon to have the honor of meeting me on 
the battlefield. I assured him that it would afford 
me pleasure, and I should make all reasonable efforts 
to gratify him in this regard. I did not desire to 
fight, of course, but I was bound not to be excelled 
in the matter of knightly courtesy. 

8. Major Wood, Fifteenth Indiana, thought he 
heard chopping last night, and imagined that the ene- 
my was engaged in cutting a road to our rear. 

Lieutenant Driscoll and party returned to-day. 
They slept on the mountains last night; were inside 
the enemy's picket lines; heard reveille sounded this 
morning, but could not obtain a view of the camp. 

Have just returned from a sixteen-mile ride, visit- 
ing picket posts. The latter half of the ride was 
after nightfall. Found officers and men vigilant and 
ready to meet an attack. 

Obtained some fine huckleberries and blackberries 
on the mountain to-day. Had a blackberry pie and 
pudding for dinner. Rather too much happiness for 



48 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

one day ; but then the crust of the pudding Avas tol- 
erably tough. The grass is a foot high in parts of 
my tent, where it has not been trodden down, and the 
gentle grasshopper makes music all the day, and like- 
wise all the night. 

Our fortifications are progressing slowly. If the 
enemy intends to attack at all, he will probably do so 
before they are complete ; and if he does not, the 
fortifications will be of no use to us. But this is the 
philosophy of a lazy man, and very similar to that of 
the Irishman Avho did not put roof on his cabin : 
when it rained he could not, and in fair weather he 
did not need it. 

9. Pickets report firing, artillery and musketry, 
over the mountain, in the direction of Kimball. 

The enemy's scouts were within three miles of our 
camp this afternoon, evidently looking for a path 
that Avould enable them to get to our rear. Fifty men 
have just been sent in pursuit; but owing to a little 
misunderstanding of instructions, I fear the expedi- 
tion will be fruitless. Colonel Wagner neither thinks 
clearly nor talks with any degree of exactness. He 
has a loose, slip-shod, indefinite Avay with him, that 
tends to confusion and leads to misunderstandings 
and trouble. 

I have been over the mountain on our left, hunt- 
ing up the paths and familiarizing myself with the 
ground, so as to be ready to defeat any effort that may 
be made to turn our flank. Colonel Owen has been 
investigating the mountain on our right. The Colonel 
is a good thinker, an excellent conversationalist, and 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 49 

a very learned man. Geology is his darling, and he 
keeps one eye on the enemy, and the other on the 
rocks. 

10. My tent is on the bank of the Valley river. 
The water, clear as crystal, as it hurries on over the 
rocks, keeps up a continuous murmur. 

There will be a storm to-night. The sky is very 
dark, the wind rising, and every few minutes a vivid 
flash of lightning illuminates the valley, and the 
thunder rolls off among the mountains with a rumb- 
bling, echoing noise, like that which the gods might 
make in putting a hundred trains of celestial artillery 
in position. 

11. Lieutenant Bowen, of topographical engi- 
neers, and myself, with ten men, carrying axes and 
guns, started up the mountain at seven o'clock this 
morning, followed a path to the crest, or dividing 
ridge, and felled trees to obstruct the way as much as 
])os.sible. Returned to camp for dinner. 

During the afternoon Lieutenant W. O. ]\Ierrill, 
Tvieutenant Bowen, and I, ascended the mountain 
again by a new route. After reaching the crest, we en- 
deavored to find the path which Lieutenant Bowen and 
I had traveled over in the morning, but were unable 
to do so. We continued our search until it became 
quite dark, when the two engineers, as well as myself, 
became utterly bewildered. Finally, Lieutenant Mer- 
rill took out his pocket compass, and said the camp was 
in that direction, pointing with his hand. I insisted 
he was wrong ; that he would not reach camp by going. 
5 



50 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

that way. He insisted that he would, and must be 
governed by some general principles, and so started oif 
on his own hook, leaving us to pursue our owm course. 
Finally Bowen lost confidence in me, said I was not 
going in the right direction at all, and insisted that 
we should turn squarely around, and go the opposite 
way. At last I yielded with many misgivings, and 
allowed him to lead. After going down a thousand 
feet or more, w^e found ourselves in a ravine, through 
which a small stream of water flowed. Following 
this, we finally reached the valley. AVe knew now 
exactly where we were, and by wading the river 
reached the road, and so got to camp at nine o'clock 
at night. 

Merrill, who was governed by general principles, 
failed to strike the camp directly, strayed three or 
four miles to the right of it, came down in StcAvart's 
run valley, and did not reach camp until about mid- 
night. 

On our trip to-day, we found a bear trap, made of 
heavy logs, the lid arranged to fall when the bear 
entered and touched the bait. 

12. This is the fourth day that Captain Cunard's 
company has been lying in the woods, three miles 
from camp, guarding an important road, although a 
very rough and rugged one. Companies upon duty 
like this, remain at their posts day and night', good 
weather and bad, without any shelter, except that 
afforded by the trees, or by little booths constructed 
of logs and branches. From the main station, where 
the captain remains, sub-pickets are sent out in 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 51 

charge of sergeants and corporals, and these often 
make little houses of logs, which they cover ^vith 
cedar boughs or branches of laurel, and denominate 
forts. In the wilderness, to-day, I stumbled upon 
Fort Stiner, the head-quarters of a sub-picket com- 
manded by Corporal William Stiner, of the Third. 
The Corporal and such of his men as were off duty, 
were sitting about a fire, heating coffee and roasting 
slices of fat pork, preparing thus the noonday meal. 

13. At noon Colonel Marrow, Major Keifer, and I, 
took dinner with Esquire Stalnaker, an old-style man, 
born fifty years ago in the log house where he now 
lives. Two spinning-wheels w^ere in the best room, 
and rattled aw^ay with a music wdiich carried me back 
to the pioneer days of Ohio. A little girl of five or 
six years stole up to the wheel when the mother's 
back was turned, and tried her skill on a roll. How 
proud and delighted she was Avhen she had spun the 
wool into a long, uneven thread, and secured it safely 
on the spindle. Surely, the child of the palace, 
reared in the lap of luxury and with her hands in 
the mother's jewel-box, could not have been happier 
or more triumphant in her bearing. 

These West A^irginians are uncultivated, unedu- 
cated and rough, and need the common school to civ- 
ilize and modernize them. Many have never seen a 
railroad, and the telegraph is to them an incompre- 
hensible mystery. 

Governor Dennison has appointed a Mr. John G. 
Mitchell, of Columbus, adjutant of the Third. 

14. Privates Vincent and Watson, sentinels of a 



52 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [AtoisT, 

sub-picket^ under command of Corporal Stiner^ dis- 
covered a man stealing through the woods, and halted 
him. He professed to be a farm hand; said his em- 
ployer had a mountain farm not far away, where he 
])astured cattle. A two-year-old steer had strayed off, 
and he was looking for him. His clothes were fear- 
fully torn by brush and briars. His hands and face 
Avere scratched by thorns. He had taken oiF his boots 
to relieve his swollen feet, and was carrying them in 
his hands. Imitating the language and manners of 
an uneducated West Virginian, he asked the sentinel 
if he '' had seed anything of a red steer." The sen- 
tinel had not. After continuing the conversation for 
a time, he finally said : " Well, I must be a goin' ; 
it is a gettin' late, and I am durned feared I won't 
git back to the farm afore night. Good day.'' ^' Hold 
on," said the sentinel; " better go and see the Cap- 
tain." '^ O, no; don't want to trouble him; it is not 
likely he has seed the steer, and it's a gettin' late." 
"Come right along," replied the sentinel, bringing 
his gun down; "the Captain will not mind being 
troubled ; in fact, I am instructed to take such men 
as you to him." 

Captain Cunard questioned the prisoner closely, 
asked whom he worked for, how much he was getting 
a month for his services, and, finally, pointing to the 
long-legged military boots Avhich he was still holding 
in his hands, asked how much they cost. " Fifteen 
dollars," replied the prisoner." "Fifteen dollars! Is 
not that rather more than a farm hand who gets but 
twelve dollars a month can aflPord to pay for boots?" 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 53 

inquired the Captain. "Well, the fact is/ boots is a 
gettin' liigh since the war, as well as every thing 
else." But Captain Cunard was not satisfied. The 
prisoner was not well np in the cliiiracter he had un- 
dertaken to play, and was told that he must go to 
head-quarters. Finding that he was caught, lie at 
once threw off the mask, and confessed that he was 
Captain J. A. De Lagniel, formerly of the regular 
army, but now in the Confederate service. Wounded' 
at the battle of Rich mountain, he had been secreted 
at a farm-house near Beverly until able to travel, and 
was now trying to get around our pickets and reach 
the rebel army. He had been in the mountains five 
days and four nights. The provisions with which he 
started, and which consisted of a little bag of biscuit, 
had become moldy. He thought, from the distance 
traveled, that he must be beyond our lines and out of 
danger. 

De Lagniel is an educated man, and his wife and 
friends believe him to have been killed at Rich 
mountain. He speaks in high terms of Captain 
Cunard, and says, when the latter began to question 
him, he soon found it was useless to play Major 
Andre, for Paulding was before him, too sharp to be 
deceived and too honest to be bribed. When De 
Lagniel was brought into camp he was wet and shiv- 
ering, weak, and thoroughly broken down by starva- 
tion, cold, exposure, and flitigue. The officers sup- 
plied him with the clothing necessary to make him 
comfortable. 

15. I have a hundred axmen in my charge, fell- 



54 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Auglst, 

ing timber on the mountain, and constructing rough 
breastworks to protect our left flank. 

General Reynolds came up to-day to see De 
Lagniel. They are old acquaintances, were at AVest 
Point together, and know each other like brothers. 

The irrepressible Corporal Casey, ^vho, in fact, bad 
nothing whatever to do with the capture of De 
Lagniel. is now surrounded by a little group of sol- 
*diers. He is talking to them about the prisoner, 
who, since it is known that he is an acquaintance of 
General Reynolds, has become a person of great im- 
portance in the camp. The Corporal speaks in the 
broadest Irish brogue, and is telling his hearers that 
he knew the fellow was a sesesh at once; that he lev- 
eled his musket at him and towld him to halt; that 
if he hadn't marched straight up to him he would 
have put a minnie ball through his heart; that he 
had his gun cocked and his finger on the trigger, and 
was a mind to shoot him anyway. Then he tells how 
he propounded this and that question, which confused 
the prisoner, and finally concludes by saying that De 
Lagniel might be d — d thankful indade that he es- 
caped \vith his life. 

The Corporal is the best-known man in the regi- 
ment. He prides himself greatly on the Middle 
Fork ^^skrimage.'^ A day or two after that affair, 
and at a time when whisky was so scarce that it was 
worth its weio:ht in o^old, some officers called the Cor- 
poral up and asked him to give them an account of the 
"skrimage." Before he entered npon the subject, it 
was suggested that Captain Dubois, who had the little 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 55 

wlii.sky there was in the party, should give him a 
taste to loosen his tongue. The Cbrporal, nothing 
loth, took the flask, and, raising it to his mouth, 
emptied it, to the utter dismay of the Captain and 
his friends. The dhrap had the effect desired. The 
Corporal described, with great particularity, his man- 
ner of going into action, dwelt with much emphasis 
on the hand-to-hand encounters, the tlirusts, the par- 
ries, the final clubbing of the musket, and the utter 
discomfiture and mortal wounding of his antagonist. 
In fact by this time there were two of them ; and 
finally, as the fight progressed, a dozen or more 
bounced down on him. It was lively ! There was 
no time for the loading of guns. Whack, thump, 
crack ! The head of one was broken, another lay dy- 
ing of a bayonet thrust, and still another had per- 
ished under the sledge-hammer blow of his fist. The 
ground was covered now with the slain. He stood 
knee-deep in secesh blood ; but a bugle sounded away 
off on the hills, and the d — d scoundrels who were 
able to get away ran off as fast as their legs could 
carry them. Had they stood up like men he 
would have destroyed the whole regiment; for, you 
see, he Avas just getting his hand in. "But, Cor- 
j)oral,'' inquired Captain Hunter, "what were the 
other soldiers of your company doing all this time?" 
" Bless your sowl. Captain, and do you think I had 
nothing to do but to w^alch the boys? Be jabers, it 
was a day when every man had to look after him- 
self.'^ 

16. The opinion seems to be growing that the reb- 



56 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

els do not intend to attack iis. They have put it off 
too long. 

A scouting party will start out in the morning, un- 
der the guidance of '^ old Leather Breeches/' a primi- 
tive West Virginian^ who has spent his life in the 
mountains. His right name is Bennett. He wears 
an antiquated pair of buckskin pantaloons, and has a 
cabin-home on the mountain, twelve miles away. 

A tambourine is being played near by, and Fox, 
with a heart much lighter than his complexion, is in- 
dulging in a double shuffle. 

There are many snakes in the mountains: rattle- 
snakes, copperheads, blacksnakes, and almost every 
other variety of the snake kind ; in short, the boys 
have snake on the brain. To-day one of the chop- 
pers made a sudden grab for his trouser leg; a snake 
was crawling up. He held the loathsome reptile 
tightly by the head and body, and was fearfully agi- 
tated. A comrade slit down the leg of the pantaloon 
with a knife, when lo ! an innocent little roll of red 
flannel was discovered. 

The boys are very liberal in the bestowal of titles. 
Colonel Hogseye is indebted to them for his commis- 
sion. The Colonel commands an ax just now. Ordi- 
narily he carries a musket, sleeps and dines with his 
subordinates, and is not above traveling on foot. 

Fox's real name, I ascertained lately, is William 
Washington. His brother, noAV in the service of the 
surgeon, is called Handsome, and Colonel Marrow's 
servant is known by the boys as the Bay Nigger. 

17. Was awakened this morning at one o'clock. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 57 

by a soldier in search of a surgeon. One of our 
pickets had been wounded. The post was on the 
river bank. The sentinel saw a man approaching on 
the opposite side of the river, challenged, and saw 
him level his s^un. Both fired. The sentinel was 
wounded in the leg by a small squirrel bullet. The 
other man was evidently wounded, for after it became 
light enough he was traced half a mile by blood on 
the ground, weeds, and leaves. The surgeon is of the 
opinion that the ball struck his left arm. From in- 
formation obtained this morning, it is believed this 
man is secreted not many miles away. A party of 
ten has been sent to look for him. 

This is by far the pleasantest camp Ave have ever 
had. The river runs its whole length. The hospital 
and surgeons' tents are located on a very pretty little 
island, a quiet, retired spot, festooned with vines, in 
the shadow of great trees, and carpeted with moss soft 
and velvety as the best of Brussels. 

18. The name of our camp is properly Elk AYater, 
not Elk Fork. The little stream Avhich comes down 
to the river, from which the camp derives its name, 
is called Elk Water, because tradition affirms that in 
early days the elk frequented the little valley through 
which it runs. 

The fog has been going up from the mountains, and 
the rain coming down in the valley. The river roars 
a little louder than usual, and its water is a little less 
clear. 

The party sent in pursuit of the bushwhacker has 
returned. Found no one. 



58 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

Two men were seen this evening, armed with rifles, 
prowling among the bashes near the place where the 
aiFair of last night occurred. They were fired upon, 
but escaped. 

An accident, which particularly interests my old 
company, occurred a few minutes ago. John Heskett, 
Jeff Long, and four or five other men, were detailed 
from Company I for picket duty. Heskett and Long 
are intimate friends, and were playing together, the 
one with a knife and the other with a pocket pistol. 
The pistol was discharged accidentally, and the ball 
struck Heskett in the neck, inflicting a serious wound, 
but whether fatal or not the surgeon can not yet tell. 
The afliiir has cast a shadow over the company. 
Young Heskett bears himself bravely. Long is in- 
consolable, and begs the boys to shoot him. 

20. These mountain streams are unreliable. We 
had come to regard the one on which we are en- 
camped as a quiet, orderly little river, that would be 
good enough to notify us when it proposed to swell 
out and overflow the adjacent country. In fact we 
had bragged about it, made all sorts of complimentary 
mention of it, put our tents on its margin, and al- 
lowed it to encircle our sick and wounded; but we 
have now lost all confidence in it. Yesterday, about 
noon, it began to rise. It had been raining, and we 
thought it natural enough that the waters should in- 
crease a little. At four o'clock it had swelled very 
considerably, but still kept within its bed of rock and 
gravel, and we admired it all the more for the energy 
displayed in hurrying along branches, logs, and some- 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 59 

times whole trees. At six o'clock we found it was 
rising at the rate of one foot per hour, and that the 
water had now crept to within a few feet of the hos- 
pital tent, in which lay two wounded and a dozen or 
more of sick. Dr. McMeens became alarmed and 
called for help. Thirty or more boys stripped, swam 
to the island, and removed the hospital to higher 
ground — to the highest ground, in fact, which the 
island afforded. The boys returned, and we felt safe. 
At seven o'clock, however, we found the river still 
rising rapidly. It covered nearly the whole island. 
Logs, brush, green trees, and all manner of drift went 
sweeping by at tremendous speed, and the water 
rushed over land which had been dry half an hour 
before, with apparently as strong a current as that in 
the channel. We knew then that the sick and 
wounded Avere in danger. How to rescue them was 
now the question. A raft was suggested; but a raft 
could not be controlled in such a current, and if it 
went to pieces or was hurried away, the sick and 
wounded must drown. Fortunately a better way was 
suggested ; getting into a Avagon, I ordered the 
driver to go above some distance, so that we could 
move with the current, and then ford the stream. 
After many difficulties, occasioned mainly by floating 
logs and driftwood, and swimming the horses part of 
the way, w^e succeeded in getting over. I saw it was 
impossible to carry the sick back, and that there was 
but one way to render them secure. I had the horses 
unhitched, and told the driver to swim them back and 
bring over two or three more wagons. Two more 



60 THE ciT[zr-:N soldier: 



[August, 



finally reached me, and one team, in attempting to 
cross, was carried down stream and drowned. I had 
the three wagons placed on the highest point I could 
find, then chained together and staked securely to the 
ground. Over the boxes of t^\:o of these Ave rolled 
the hospital tent, and on this placed the sick and 
wounded, just as the water was creeping upon us. On 
the third wagon we put the hospital stores. It was 
now quite dark. Not more than four feet square of 
dryland remained of all our beautiful island; and the 
river was still rising. AVe watched the water Avith 
much anxiety. At ten o'clock it reached the Avajron 
hubs, and covered every foot of the ground ; but soon 
after Ave Avere pleased to see that it began to go down 
a little. Those of us Avho could not get into the 
Avagons had clind^ed the trees. At one o'clock it 
commenced to rain again, Avhen Ave managed to hoist 
a tent over the sick. At two o'clock the lono:-roll, 
the signal for battle, Avas beaten in camp, and Ave 
could just hear, above the roar of the water, the noise 
made by the men as they hurriedly turned out and 
fell into line. 

It will not do, however, to conclude that this AA'as 
altogether a night of terrors. It was, in fact, not so 
A^cry disagreeable after all. There Avas a by-play go- 
ing on much of the time, Avhich served to illuminate 
the thick darkness, and divert our minds frorii the 
gloomier aspects of the scene. Smith, the teamster 
Avho brought me across, had returned to the mainland 
Avith the horses, and then SAvam back to the island. 
By midnight he had become very drunk. One of the 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER.. 61 

hospital attendants was very far gone in his cnps^ also. 
These two gentlemen did not seem to get along ami- 
cably ; in fact, they kept np a fusillade of words all 
night, and so kept us awake. The teamster insisted 
that the hospital attendant should address him as Mr. 
Smith. The Smith family, he argued, was of the 
highest respectability, and being an honored member 
of that family, he would permit no man under the 
rank of a Major-General to call him Jake. George 
McClellan sometimes addressed him by his christian 
name; but then George and he Avere Cincinnatians, 
old neighbors, and intimate personal friends, and, of 
course, took liberties with each other. This could 
not justify one who carried out pukes and slop-buck- 
ets from a field hospital in calling him Jake, or 
even Jacob. 

Mr. Smith's allusions to the hospital attendant were 
not received by that gentleman in the most amiable 
spirit. He grew profane, and insisted that he was not 
only as good a man as Smith, but a much better one, 
and he dared the bloviating mule scrubber to get 
down off his perch and stand up before him like a 
man. But Jake's temper remained unruffled, and 
along toward morning, in a voice more remarka- 
ble for strength than melody, he favored us with a 
song : 

" Ho ! gif ghlass uf goodt lauger du me ; 
Du mine fadter, mine modter, mine vife : 
Der day's vork vos done, undt we 'II see 
Vot bleasures der vos un dis life, 



62 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Augcst, 

Undt ve sit us arounclt mit der table, 
Undt ve speak uf der oldt, oldt time, 

Ven we lif un dot liouse mit der gable, 
Un der vine-cladt banks uf der Rhine; 

Undt mine fadter, his voice vos a quiver, 
Undt mine modter, her eyes vos un tears, 

Ash da dthot uf dot home un der river, 
Undt kindt friendst uf earlier years; 

Undt I saidt du mine fadter be cheerie, 
Du mine modter not longer lookt sadt, 

Here 's a blace undt a rest for der weary, 
Uud ledt us eat, drink, undt be gladt. 

So idt ever vos cheerful mitin; 

Yot dtho' idt be stormy mitoudt, 
Yot care I vor der vorld undt idts din, 

Ven dose I luf best vos about ; 

So libft up your ghlass, mine modter, 
Undt libft up yours, Gretchen, my dear, 

Undt libft up your lauger, mine fadter, 
Undt drink du long life und good cheer." 

21. Francis Union was shot and killed by one of 
onr own sentinels last night, the ball entering just 
under the nose. This resulted from the cowardice of 
the soldier who fired. He was afraid to give the nec- 
cesary challenge: four simple words: '^Halt! who 
comes there ?" would have saved a life. This illustrates 
the danger there is in visiting pickets at night. If the 
sentinel halts the man, the man may fire at the senti- 
nel. The latter, if timid, therefore makes sure of 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 63 

the first shot, and does not challenge. We buried the 
dead soldier with all the honors due one of his rank, on 
a beautiful hill in the rear of our fortifications. He 
was with me on the mountain chopping, a few days 
ago, strongs healthy, vigorous, and young. No more 
hard work for him! 

23. With Wagner, Merrill, and Bowen, I rode 
up the mountain on our left this afternoon. We had 
one field-glass and two spy-glaSses, and obtained a 
magnificent view of the surrounding country. Here 
and there we could see a cultivated spot or grazing 
farm on the top of the mountain ; but more frequently 
these were on the slopes. We descried one house 
with our glasses on the very tiptop of Rich, and so 
far away that it seemed no larger than a tent. How 
the man of the house gets up to his airy height and 
gets down again puzzles us. He has the first gush 
of the sunshine in the morning, and the latest gleam 
in the evening. Very often, indeed, he must look 
down upon the clouds, and, if he has a tender heart, 
pity the poor devils in the valley who are being 
rained on continually. Is it a pleasant home ? Has 
he wife and children in that mountain nest? Is 
he a man of dogs and guns, who spends his years in 
the mountains and glens hunting for bear and deer? 
May it not be the baronial castle of "old Leather 
Breeches" himself? 

Away off to the east a cloud, black and heavy, is 
resting on a peak of the Cheat. Around it the 
mountain is glowing in the summer sun, and appears 
soft and p-reen. A crauze of shimmering- blue man- 



64 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

ties the crest, darkens in the coves, and becomes quite 
black in the gorges. The rugged rocks and scraggy 
trees, if there be any, are at this distance invisible, 
and nothing is seen but what delights the eye and 
quickens the imagination. 

AVe see by the papers that Ohio is preparing to or- 
ganize a grand Union party, with a platform on which 
both Republicans and Democrats can stand. I am 
glad of this. There should be but one party in the 
North, and that party willing to make all sacrifices 
for the Union. 

24. Last night a sentinel on one of the picket 
2)osts halted a stump and demanded the countersign. 
No response being made, he fired. The entire Fif- 
teenth Indiana sprang to arms; the cannoniers gath- 
ered about their guns, and a thousand eyes peered into 
the darkness to get a glimpse of the approaching ene- 
my. But the stump, evidently intimidated by the 
first shot, did not advance, and so the Hoosiers re- 
turned again to their couches, to dream, doubtless, of 
the subject of a song very common now in camp, 
to wit : 

" Old (jrovernor Wise, 
With his goggle eyes." 

25. The Twenty-third Ohio, Colonel Scammon, 
will be here to-morrow. Stanley Matthews is the 
lieutenant-colonel of this regiment, and mv old friend, 
Rutherford B. Hayes, the major. The latter is an ac- 
complished gentleman, graduate of Harvard Law 
School, and will, it is said, in all proV)abilIty, succeed 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 05 

Giirley in Congress. Matthews has a fine reputation 
as a speaker and lawyer, and, I have been told, is the 
most promising young man in Ohio. Scammon is a 
West Pointer. 

26. Five companies of the Twenty -third Ohio and 
five companies of the Ninth Ohio arrived to-day, 
and are encamped in a maple grove about a mile 
below us. A detachment of cavalry came up also, 
and is quartered near. Other regiments are coming. 
It is said the larger portion of the troops in West 
Virginia are tending in this direction ; but on what 
particular point it is proposed to concentrate them 
rumor saith not. 

General McClellan did not go far enough at first. 
After the defeat of Pegram, at Rich mountain, and 
Garnett, at Laurel Hill, the Sou.thern army of this 
section was utterly demoralized. It scattered, and the 
men composing it, who were not captured, fled, terror 
stricken, to their homes. We could have marched to 
Staunton without opposition, and taken possession of 
the very strongholds the enemy is now fortifying 
against us. If in our advanced position supplies could 
not have been obtained from the North, the army 
might liave subsisted oif the country. Thus, by push- 
ing vigorously forward, we could have divided the 
enemy's forces, and thus saved our army in the East 
from humiliating defeat. This is the way it looks to 
me ; but, after all, there may have been a thousand 
good reasons for remaining here, of which I know 
nothing. One thing, however, is, I think, very evi- 
6 



QQ THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

dent : a successful army^ dated with victory, and eager 
to advance, is not likely to be defeated by a di;jpirited 
opponent. One-fourth, at least, of the strength of 
this army disappeared when it heard of the rebel tri- 
umphs on the Potomac. 



Latter part of August the writer was sent to Ohio 
for recruits for the regiment, and did not return to 
camp until the middle of September. 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 67 



SEPTEMBER 1861. 



19. Reached camp yesterday at noon. My re- 
cruits arrived to-day. 

The enemy was here in my absence in strength and 
majesty, and repeated, with a slight variation, the 
grand exploit of the King of France, by 

*' Marchins; up the hill with twenty thousand men, 
And straightway marching down again." 

There was lively skirmishing for a few days, and 
hot work expected ; bnt, for reasons unknown to us, 
the enemy retired precipitately. 

On Sunday morning last fifty men of the Sixth 
Ohio, when on picket, were surprised and captured. 
My friend, Lieutenant Merrill, fell into the hands of 
the enemy, and Is now probably on his way to Castle 
Pinckney. Further than this our rebellious friends 
did us no damage. Our men, at this point, killed 
Colonel Washington, wounded a few others, and fur- 
ther than this inflicted but little injury upon the en- 
emy. The country people near whom the rebels en- 
camped say they got to fighting among themselves. 
The North Carolinians were determined to go home, 



68 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

and regiments from other States claimed that their 
term of service had expired, and wanted to leave. I 
am glad they did, and trust they may go home, hang 
up their guns, and go to Avork like sensible people, 
for then I could do the same. 

23. This afternoon I rode by a mountain path to a 
log cabin in which a half dozen wounded Tennessee- 
ans are lying. One poor fellow had his leg ampu- 
tated yesterday, and was very feeble. One had been 
struck by a ball on the head and a buckshot in the 
lungs. Two boys were but slightly wounded, and 
were in good spirits. To one of these — a jovial, 
pleasant boy — Dr. Seyes said, good humorcdly : '' You 
need have no fears of dying from a gunshot; you 
are too big a devil, and Avere born to be hung." 
Colonel Marrow sought to question this same fel- 
low in regard to tlie strength of the enemy, when 
the boy said: "Are you a commissioned officer?'^ 
"Yes/^ replied Marrow. " Then,'' returned he, " you 
ought to know that a private soldier don't k 



know anv- 



C3 

In returning to camp, we followed a path which 
led to a place where a regiment of the rebels 
had encamped one night. They had evidently 
become panic-stricken and left in hot haste. The 
woods were strewn with knapsacks, blankets, and 
canteens. 

The ride was a pleasant onCo The path, first wild 
and rugged, finally led to a charming little valley, 
through which Beckey's creek hurries down to the 
river. Leaving this, we traveled up the side of a ra- 



i86i.] . OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 69 

vine, through which a little stream fretted and 
fumed, and dashed into spray against slimy rocks, 
and then gathered itself up for another charge, and so 
pushed gallantly on toward the valley and the sun- 
shine. 

What a glorious scene ! The sky filled with stars; 
the rising moon ; two mountain walls so high, appa- 
rently, that one might step from them into heaven ; 
the rapid river, the thousand Avhite tents dotting the 
valley, the camp fires, the shadowy forms of soldiers ; 
in short, just enough of heaven and earth visible to 
put one's fancy on the gallop. The boys are in groups 
about their fires. The voice of the troubadour is 
heard. It is a pleasant song that he sings, and I 
catch part of it. 

" The minstrel 's returned from the war, 

With spirits as buoyant as air, 
And thus on the tuneful guitar 

He sings in the bower of the fair: 
The noise of the battle is over ; 

The bugle no more calls to arras ; 
A soldier no more, but a lover, 

I kneel to the power of thy charms. 
Sweet lady, dear lady, 1 'm thine ; 

I bend to the magic of beauty, 
Though the banner and helmet are mine, 

Yet love calls the soldier to duty." 

24. Our Indiana friends are providing for the 
winter by laying in a stock of household furniture at 
very much less than its original cost, and without 



70 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

even consulting the owners. It is probable that our 
Ohio boys steal occasionally, but they certainly do 
not prosecute the business openly and courageously. 

26. The Thirteenth Indiana, Sixth Ohio, and two 
pieces of artillery went up the valley at noon, to feel 
the enemy. It rained during the afternoon, and since 
nightfall has poured down in torrents. The poor fel- 
lows who are now trudging along in the darkness and 
storm, will think, doubtless, of home and Avarm beds. 
It requires a pure article of patriotism, and a large 
quantity of it, to make one oblivious for months at a 
time of all the comforts of civil life. 

This is the day designated by the President for 
fasting and prayer. Parson Strong held service in 
the regiment, and the Rev. Mr. Reed, of Zanesville, 
Ohio, delivered a very eloquent exhortation. I trust 
the supplications of the Church and the people may 
have effect, and bring that Higher Power to our as- 
sistance which hitherto has apparently not been with 
our arms especially. 

27. To-night almost the entire valley is inundated. 
^Many tents are waist high in water, and where others 
stood this morning the water is ten feet deep. Two 
men of the Sixth Ohio are reported drowned. The 
water got around them before they became aware of it, 
and in endeavoring to escape they were swept down 
the stream and lost. The civer seems to stretch from 
the base of one mountain to the other, and the whole 
valley is one wild scene of excitement. Wherever a 
spot of dry ground can be found, huge log fires are 
burning, and men by the dozen are grouped around 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 71 

them, anxi(3usly watching the water and discussing 
the situation. Tents have been hastily pitched on 
the hills, and camp fires, each with its group of men, 
are blazing in many places along the side of the 
mountain. The rain has fallen steadily all day. 

28. The Thirteenth Indiana and Sixth Ohio re- 
turned. The reconnoissance was unsuccessful, the 
weather being unfavorable. 



72 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 



OCTOBER, 1861 



2. Our camp is almost deserted. The tents of 
eight regiments dot the valley; but those of two 
regiments and a half only are occupied. The 
Hoosiers have all gone to Cheat mountain summit. 
They propose to steal upon tlie enemy during the 
night, take him by surprise, and thrash him thor- 
oughly. I pray they may be successful, for since 
Rich mountain our army has done nothing worthy of 
a paragraph. E-osecrans' affair at Carnifex was a 
barren thing ; certainly no battle and no victory, and 
the operations in this vicinity have at no time risen 
to the dignity of a skirmish. 

Captain McDougal, with nearly one hundred men 
and three days' provisions, started up the valley this 
morning, with instructions to go in sight of the en- 
emy, the object being to lead the latter to suppose the 
advance guard of our army is before him. By this 
device it is expected to keep the enemy in our front 
from going to the assistance of the rebels now threat- 
ening Kimball. 

3. To-night, half an hour ago, received a dispatch 
from the top of Cheat, which reads as follows: 

" All back. Made a very interesting reconnoissance. 



i86i.3 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 73 

Killed a large number of the enemy. Very small 
loss on our side. J. J, Reynolds, 

Brigadier-General . '^ 

Why, when the battle was progressing so advan- 
tageously for our side, did they not go on ? This, 
then, is the result of the grand demonstration on the 
other side of the mountain. 

McDougal's company returned, and report the en- 
emy fallen back. 

The frost lias touched the foliage, and the mount- 
ain peaks look like mammoth bouquets; green, red, 
yellow, and every modification of these colors appear 
mingled in every possible fanciful and tasteful way. 

Another dispatch has just come from the top of 
Cheat, written, I doubt not, after the Indianians had 
returned to camp and drawn their whisky ration. It 
sounds bigger than the first. I copy it : 

^^ Found the rebels drawn up in line of battle one 
mile outside of their fortifications, drove them back 
to their intrenchments, and continued the fight four 
hours. Ten of our men wounded and ten killed. 
Two or three hundred of the enemy killed." 

If it be true that so many of the rebels were killed, 
it is probable that two thousand at least were 
wounded; and w4ien three hundred are killed and 
two thousand wounded, out of an army of twelve or 
fifteen hundred men, the business is done up very 
thoroughly. The dispatch which went to Richmond 
to-night, I have no doubt, stated that ^^the Federals 
attacked in great force, outnumbering us two or three 
7 



74 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, . 

to one^ and after a terrific engagement, lasting live 
hours, they were repulsed at all points with great 
slaucrhter. Our loss one killed and five wounded. 
Federal lossj five hundred killed and "twenty-five 
hundred wounded." Thus are victories won and his- 
tories made. Yerily the pen is mightier than tlie 
sword. 

4. The Indianians have been returning from the 
summit all day, straggling along in squads of from 
three to a full company. 

The men are tired, and the camp is quiet as a 
house. Six thousand are sleeping away a small por- 
tion of their three weary years of military service. 
This TIME stretches out before them, a broad, un- 
known, and extra-hazardous sea, w^ith promise of 
some smooth sailing, but many days and nights of 
heavy winds and waves, in which some — how many ! — 
will be carried down. 

Their thoughts have now forced the sentinel lines, 
leaped the mountains, jumped the rivers, hastened 
home, and are lingering about the old fireside, look- 
ing in at the cupboard, and hovering over faces and 
places that have been growing dearer to them every 
day for the last five months. Old-fashioned places, 
tame and uninteresting then, but now how loved! 
And as for the faces, they are those of mothers, w^ves, 
and sweethearts, around which are entwined the ten- 
derest of memories. But at daybreak, when reveille 
is sounded, these wanderers must come trooping back 
again in time for *' hard-tack" and double quick. 



i86i.| OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 75 

5. Some of the Indiana regiments are utterly be- 
yond discipline. The men are good, stout, hearty, in- 
telligent fellows, and will make excellent soldiers; 
but they have now no regard for their officers, and, 
as a rule, do as they please. They came straggling 
back yesterday from the top of Cheat unofficered, and 
in the most unsoldierly manner. As one of these 
stray Indianlans was coming into camp, he saw a 
snake in the river and cocked his gun. He was near 
the quarters of the Sixth Ohio, and many men were 
on the opposite side of the stream, among them a 
lieutenant, who called to the Indianian and begged 
him for God's sake not to fire; but the latter, un- 
mindful of what was said, blazed away. The ball, 
striking the water, glanced and hit the lieutenant in 
the breast, killing him almost instantly. 

6. The Third and Sixth Ohio, with Loomis' bat- 
tery, left camp at half-past three in the afternoon, 
and took the Huntersville turnpike for Big Springs, 
where Lee's army has been encamped for some 
months. At nine o'clock we reached Logan's Mill, 
where the column halted for the night. It had 
rained heavily for some hours, and was still raining. 
The boys went into camp thoroughly wet, and very 
hungry and tired ; but they soon had a hundred fires 
kindled, and, gathering around these, prepared and 
ate supper. 

I never looked upon a wilder or more interesting 
scene. The valley is blazing with camp-fires; the 
men flit around them like shadows. Now some in- 



76 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

domitable spirit^ determined that neither rain nor 
weather shall get him down, strikes up : 

" Oh ! say, can you see by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous 

fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly stream- 

ing?" 

A hundred voices join in, and the very mountains, 
which loom up in the fire-light like great walls, whose 
tops are lost in the darkness, resound with a rude 
melody befiting so wild a night and so Avild a scene. 
But the songs are not all patriotic. Love and fun 
make contribution also, and a voice, which may be 
that of the invincible Irishman, Corporal Casey, 
sings : 

"'Twas a windy night, about two o'clock in the morning, 
An Irish lad, so tight, all the wind and weather scorning. 
At Judy Callaghan's door, sitting upon the paling. 
His love tale he did pour, and this is part of his wailing: 
Only say you '11 be mistress Brallaghan ; 
Don't say nay, charming Judy Callaghan.'' 

A score of voices pick up the chorus, and the hills 
and mountains seem to join in the Corporal's appeal 
to the charming Judy: 

"Only say you '11 be mistress Brallaghan; 
Do n't say nay, charming Judy Callaghan." 

Lieutenant Koot is in command of Loomis' bat- 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 77 

teiy. Just before reaching Logan's one of his pro- 
vision wagons tumbled down a precipice, severely in- 
juring three men and breaking the wagon in pieces. 

7. Left Logan^s mill before the sun was up. The 
rain continues, and the mud is deep. At eleven 
o'clock we reached what is known as Marshall's store, 
near which, until recently, the enemy had a pretty 
large camp. Halted at the place half an hour, and 
then moved four miles further on, where we found the 
roads impassable for our artillery and transportation. 

Learning that the enemy had abandoned Big 
Springs and fallen back to Huntersville, the soldiers 
were j^ermitted to break ranks, while Colonel Marrow 
and Major Keifer, with a company of cavalry, rode 
forward to the Springs. Colonel JS^ick Anderson, Ad- 
jutant Mitchell and I followed. We found on the 
road evidence of the recent presence of a very large 
force. Quite a number of wagons had been left be- 
hind. Many tents had been ripped, cut to pieces, or 
burned, so as to render them worthless. A large 
number of beef hides were strung along the road. 
One wagon, loaded with muskets, had been destroyed. 
All of which showed, simply, that before the rebels 
abandoned the place the roads had become so bad 
that they could not carry off their baggage. 

The object of the expedition being now accom- 
plished, we started back at three o'clock in the after- 
noon, and encamped for the night at MarshalPs store. 

8. Resumed the march early, found the river 
waist high, and current swift; but the men all got 
over safely, and we reached camp at one o'clock. 



78 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

The Third has been assigned to a new brigade, to 
be commanded by Brigadier-General Dnmont, of In- 
diana. 

The paymaster has come at last. 

AVillis, my new servant, is a colored gentleman of 
much experience and varied accomplishments. He 
has been a barber on a Mississippi river steamboat, 
and a daguerreian artist. He knows much of the 
South, and manipulates a fiddle with wonderful skill. 
He is enlivening the hours now with his violin. 

Oblivious to rain, mud, and the monotony of the 
camp, my thoughts are carried by the music to other 
and pleasanter scenes ; to tlie cottage home, to wife 
and children, to a time still further away when we 
had no children, when we were making the prelim- 
inary arrangements for starting in the world together, 
when her cheeks were ruddier than now, when wealth 
and fame and happiness seemed lying just before me, 
ready to be gathered in, and farther away still, to a 
gentle, blue-eyed mother — now long gone — teaching 
her child to lisp his first simple prayer. 

9. The day has been clear. The mountains, dec- 
orated by the artistic fingers of Jack Frost, loom up 
in the sunshine like magnificent, highly-colored, and 
beautiful pictures. 

The night is grand. The moon, a crescent, now 
rests for a moment on the highest peak of the Cheat, 
and by its light suggests, rather than reveals, the out- 
line of hill, valley, cove and mountain. 

The boys are wide awake and merry. The fair 
weather has put new spirit in them all, and possiblv 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 79 

the presence of the payiiia.ster has contributed some- 
what to the good feeling which prevails. 
Hark! Tiiis from the company quarters: 

*' Her golden hair in ringlets fair; 
Her eyes like diamonds shining ; 
Her slender waist, her carriage chaste, 
Left me, poor soul, a pining. 
But let the night be e'er so dark, 
Or e'er so wet and rainy, 
I will return safe back again 
To the girl I left behind me." 

From another quarter, in the rich brogue of the 
Celt, we have : 

^'' Did you hear of the widow Malone, 

Ohone ! 
Who lived in the town of Athlone, 

Alone? 
Oh ! she melted the hearts 
Of the swains in those parts ; 
So lovely the widow Malone, 

Ohonc ! 
So lovely the widow Malone. 

10. Mr. Strong, the chaplain, has a prayer meet- 
ing in the adjoining tent. His prayers and exhorta- 
tions fill me with an almost irresistible inclination to 
close my eyes and shut out the vanities, cares, and 
vexations of the world. Parson Strong is dull, but- 
he is very industrious, and on secular days devotes 
his physical and mental powers to the work of tan- 



80 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

ning three sheepskins and a calf's hide. On every 
fair (lay he has the skins strung on a pole before his 
tent to get the sun. He combs the wool to get it 
clean, and takes especial delight in rubbing the hides 
to make them soft and pliable. I told the parson the 
otiier day that I could not have the utmost confidence 
in a shepherd who took so much pleasure in tanning 
hides. 

While Parson Strong and a devoted few^ are singing 
the songs of Zion^ the boys are having cotillion par- 
ties in other parts of the camp. On the parade 
ground of one company Willis is officiating as 
musician, and the gentlemen go through 'Mionors to 
partners" and "circle all" with apparently as much 
pleasure as if their partners had pink cheeks, white 
slippers, and dresses looped up with rosettes. 

There comes from the Chaplain's tent a sweet and 
solemn refrain : 

" Perhaps He will admit my plea, 

Perhaps will hear my prayer ; 
But if I perish I will pray, 

And perish only there. 
I can hut perish if I go. 

I am resolved to try. 
For if I stay away I know 

I must forever die." 

While these old hymns are sounding in our ears, 
we are almost tenijited to go, even if we do perish. 
Surely nothing has such power to makew us forget 
earth and its round of troubles as these sweet old 



,%i.f OK, MKMf)IRS OF A VOLUNIKKR. 8l 

<;liiii*«-li sori^s, iiiiiiiliur (Voiii ciii'licsl, clii Idliood, ;in(l 
wi'oii^lit iiilo lli(; iiio.sl; l,('ii(l('f iiH'iiiori*',-, until \v'(; 
COMIC to y("^;i.n\ llicjii as Ji sort of ,s;u;i'('(l slrcani, on 
wliicli soiih; (l;iy our souls will flo:il away lia|)j)ily lo 
the bettci- couiilry. 

\2. 'V\\i', )):i)>oii is in my i<;nl, doiti;/,' liis host 
to (ixiract soni(;tljin<z; solemn out oi" Willis' violin. 
Now li(! stiiml)l(.'S on a sti-ain of 'SSwcct Home/' then 
a scratch of" Lan^- Sync;;" hut I Ik; lallci* soon hrcaUs 
its n(!ck ovci' ^' Old Hundred/' and ;dl thr(!(; tutjes 
finally mix up and mei-^c inio " I wouhJ not live 
alway, I aslc not to stay," whi<'li, iov IIk; pui'pose of 
st(;adyin^'; his hand, the |)arson sinj^s aloud. I look 
at liim and alleet surpris(! that a re\(;rend ^(Millcman 
shf)u](J take any phjasun; in ho vain and wicked an in- 
strumcint, and cxjircss a hojjc that the husincss of 
tanninj^' skins has not utterly demoralized him. 

Willis pret(;nds to a tast(; in musi(; faj' siipo'ior to 
that of Ihc rornmon '^ ni^<^cr." II(; j)lavs a s'cry I'lm; 
thin^, and when I ask what it is, rej)li(.'s : ^' Norma, 
an op(;ra |)i(!C('." Sinc(; the parson's exit he lias hecii 
executing- '^ IS'orma" with ji,i'eat spirit, and, so fai* as I 
am ahh; to ju<I^e, with wond(!rful skill. I doiiht not 
his thoughts are a thousand miles hence, among hiow ii- 
skinn(!d w(MH;heH, dresscnl in crimson rohes, and dec- 
oratc.'d with pondej-oiis ear-dr(»j)s. In fact, " Norma" 
is gofxl, an<i goes lar to cirry one out of the wilder- 
ness. 

!.'>. It is aft(;i- tatt.oo. Parson Strong's prayer- 
meeting has been dismiss(;d an hour, and tin; (;amp is 
as (piiet as if desei't(!d. Tlie day lias l)e(!n a duplir;af(f 



82 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

of yesterday, cold and windy. To-night the moon is 
sailing through a wilderness of clouds, now breaking 
out and throwing a mellow light over valley and 
mountain, then plunging into obscurity, and leaving 
all in thick darkness. 

Major Keifer, Adjutant Mitchell, and Private 
Jerroloaman have been stretching their legs before 
my fireplace all the evening. The Adjutant being 
hopelessly in love, naturally enough gave the conver- 
sation a sentimental turn, and our thoughts have been 
wandering among the rosy years when our hearts 
throbbed under the gleam of one ])right particular 
star (I mean one each), and our souls alteniated be- 
tween hope and fear, happiness and despair. Three 
of us, however, have some experience in wedded life, 
and the gallant Adjutant is reasonably confident that 
he will obtain further knowledge on the subject if 
this cruel war ever comes to an end and his sweet- 
heart survives. 

14. The paymaster has been busy. The boys are 
very bitter against the sutler, realizing, for the first 
time, that "sutler's chips" cost money, and that they 
have wasted on jimcracks too much of their hard 
earnings. Conway has taken a solemn Irish oath that 
the sutler shall never get another cent of him. But 
these are like the half repentant, but resnltless, mut- 
terings of the confirmed drunkard. The " new leaf 
proposed to be turned over is never turned. 

16. Am told that some of the boys lost in gam- 
bling every farthing of their money half an hour after 
receiving it from the paymaster. 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 83 

An Indiana soldier threw a bombshell into the fire 
to-day, and three men were seriously wounded by the 
explosion. 



The writer was absent from camp from October 
21st to latter part of November, serving on court- 
martial, first at Huttoiiville, and afterward at Bev- 
erly. 

In November the Third was transferred to Ken- 
tucky. 



84 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 



NOVEMBER, 1861 



30. The Third is encamped five miles south of 
Louisville, on the Seventh-street plank road. 

As Ave marched throuiih the city my attention Avas 
directed to a sign bearing the inscription, in large 
black letters, 

" XEGROES BOUGHT AND SOLD." 

We have known, to be sure, that negroes were 
bought and sold, like cattle and tobacco, but it, nev- 
ertheless, awakened new, and not by any means 
agreeable, sensations to see the humiliating fact an- 
nounced on the broad side of a commercial house. 
These signs must come down. 

The climate of Kentucky is variable, freezing 
nights and thawing in the day. The soil in this lo- 
cality is rich, and, where trodden, extremely muddy. 
We shall miss the clear water of the mountain 
streams. A large number of troops are concentrat- 
ing here. 



i86i.3 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 85 



DECEMBER, 1861. 



1. Sunday has juvst slipped away. Parson Strong 
attempted to get an audience; but a corporal's guard, 
for numbers, were all who desired to be ministered to 
in spiritual thiugs. 

The Colonel spends much of his time in Louis- 
ville. He complains bitterly because the company 
officers do not remain in camp, and yet fails to set 
them a good example in this regard. We have suc- 
ceeded poorly in holding our men. Quite a number 
dodged off while the boat was lying at the landing in 
Cincinnati, and still more managed to get through 
the guard lines and have gone to Louisville. The 
invincible Corporal Casey has not yet put in an ap- 
pearance. 

The boys of the Sixth Ohio are exceedingly jubi- 
lant ; the entire regiment has been allowed a furlough 
for six days. This was done to satisfy the men, who 
had become mutinous because they were not per- 
mitted to stop at Cincinnati on their w^ay hither. 

4. Rode to Louisville this afternoon ; in the 
evening attended the theatre, and saw the notorious 
Adah Isaacs Menken Heenan. The house was packed 
with soldiers, mostly of the Sixth Ohio. It seemed 



86 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; (DECEMiiEt?, 

probable at one time that there would be a genei'al free 
fight; but the brawlers were finally quieted and the 
play went on. One of the performers resembled an 
old West Virginia acquaintance so greatly that the 
boys at once y'clepped him Stalnaker, and howled 
fearfully whenever he made his appearance. 

7. Moved three miles nearer Louisville and en- 
camped in a grove. Have had much difficulty in keep- 
ing the men in camp ; and this evening, to prevent 
a general stampede, ordered the guards to load their 
guns and shoot the first man who attempted to break 
over. Have succeeded also in getting the officers to 
remain; notified them yesterday that charges would 
be preferred against all who left without permission, 
and this afternoon I put my very good friend, Lieu- 
tenant Dale, under arrest for disregarding the order. 

12. In camp near Elizabethto\yn. The road over 
which we marched was excellent ; but owing to de- 
tention 'at Salt river, where the troops and trains 
had to be ferried over, we were a day longer coming 
here than we expected to be. The Aveather has been 
delightful, warm as spring time. The nights are 
beautiful. 

The regiment was greatly demoralized by our 
stay in the vicinity of Louisville, and on the march 
hither the boys were very disorderly and loth to 
obey ; but, by dint of much scolding, we succeeded 
in getting them all through. 

13. Have been attached to the Seventeenth Brig- 
ade, and assigned to the Third Division ; the latter 
commanded bv General O. M. Mitchell. The General 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 87 

remarked to me this morning, that the best drilled 
and conditioned regiments would lead in the march 
toward Nashville. 

15. Jake Smith, the driver of the head-quarters 
wagon, on his arrival in Elizabethtown went to the 
hotel, and in an imperious way ordered dinner, 
assuring the landlord, with much emphasis, that he 
was ^^ no damned common officer, and wanted a good 
dinner." 

• 18. In camp at Bacon creek, eight miles north 
of Green river. Have been two days on the way 
from Elizabethtown; the road was bad. There were 
nine regiments in the column, which extended as far 
almost as the eye could reach. 

At Louisville I was compelled to bear heavily on 
officers and men. On the march hither I have dealt 
very thoroughly with some of the most disorderly, 
and in consequence have become unpopular with the 
regiment. 

20. General Mitchell called this afternoon and 
requested me to form the 7'egin;\^nt in a square. I 
did so, and he addressed it for twenty minutes on 
guard duty, throwing in here and there patriotic 
expressions, which encouraged and delighted the boys 
very much. When he departed they gave him three 
rousing cheers. 

21. A reconnoissance was made beyond Green ♦ 
river yesterday, and no enemy found. 

We are short of supplies; entirely out of sugar, 
coffee, and candles, and the boys to-night indicated 
some faint symptoms of insubordinatir»n. but I as- 



88 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

siired them we had made every effort possible to 
obtain these articles, and so quieted them. 

Major Keifer was officer in charge of the camp yes- 
terday, and when making the rounds last night a 
sentinel challenged, '' Halt ! who comes there ?" The 
sergeant responded, ^^ Grand rounds,^' whereupon the 
weary and disappointed Irishman retorted in angry 
tones : '^ Divil take the grand rounds, I thought it the 
relafe comin'.'^ 

22. The pleasant days have ended. The clouds 
hang heavy and black, and the rain descends in 
torrents. 

After eleven o'clock last night I accompanied Gen- 
eral Mitchell to ten regiments, and with him made the 
grand rounds in most of them. As we rode from 
camp to camp the General made the time most agree- 
able and profitable to me, by delivering a very able 
lecture on military affairs ; laying down what he de- 
nominated a simple and sure foundation for the begin- 
ner to build upon. 

The wind is high and our stove smokes prodig- 
iously. I have been out in the rain endeavoring to 
turn the pipe, but have not mended the matter at all. 
The Major insists that it is better to freeze than to be 
smoked to death, so we shall extinguish the fire and 
freeze. 

Adjutant Mitchell has been commissioned captain 
and assigned to Company C. 

25. Gave passes to all the boys who desired to 
leave camp. The Major, Adjutant and I had a right 
royal Christmas dinner and a pleasant time. A fine 



i86i.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 89 

fat cliickeiij fried niush^ coffee^ peaches and milk, were 
on the table. The Major is engaged now in heating 
the second tea-pot of water for punch purposes. His 
countenance has become quite* rosy ; this is doubtless 
the effect of the fire. He has been unusually power- 
ful in argument; but whether his intellect has been 
stimulated by the fire, the tea, or the punch, we are 
at this time wdiolly unable to decide ; he certainly 
handles the tea-pot with consummate skill, and at- 
tacks the punch with exceeding vigor. 

27. No orders to advance. Armies travel slowly 
indeed. Within fifteen miles of the enemy and idly 
rotting in the mud. 

Acting Brigadier-General Marrow when informed 
that Dumont would assume command of the brigade, 
became suddenly and violently ill, asked for and ob- 
tained a thirty-day leave. 

I would give much to be home with the children 
during this holiday time ; but unfortunately my health 
is too good, and will continue so in spite of me. The 
Major, poor man, is troubled in the same way. 

28. Lieutenant St. John goes to Louisville with 
a man who was arrested as a spy ; and strange to say 
the arrest was made at the instance of the prisoner's 
uncle, who is a captain in the Union army. 

Captain Mitchell assumes command of company 
C to-morrow. The Colonel is incensed at the Major 
and me, because of the Adjutant's promotion. He 
intended to make a place in the company for a non- 
commissioned officer, who begged money from the 
8 



90 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER: [December, 

boys to buy him a sword. We astonished him, how- 
ever, by showing three commissions — one for the Ad- 
jutant, and one each for a first and second lieutenant, 
all of the company's own choosing. 

30. Called on General Dumont this morning; he 
is a small man, with a thin piping voice, but an edu- 
cated and affable gentleman. Did not make his 
acquaintance in West Virginia, he being unwell while 
there and confined to his quarters. 

This is a peculiar country ; there are innumerable 
caverns, and every few rods places are found where 
the crust of the earth appears to have broken and 
sunk down hundreds of feet. One mile from camp 
there is a large and interesting cave, which has been 
explored probably by every soldier of the regiment. 

31 . General Buell is here, and a grand review took 
place to-day. 

Since we left Elk water there has been a steadily 
increasing element of insubordination manifested 
in many ways, but notably in an unwillingness 
to drill, in stealing from camp and remaining away 
for days. This, if tolerated much longer, will de- 
moralize even the best of men and render the regi- 
ment worthless. 



i2.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 91 



JANUARY, 1862. 



1. Albert, the cook, was swindled in the purchase 
of a fowl for our New Year's dinner; he supposed 
he was getting a young and tender turkey, but we 
lind it to be an ancient Shanghai rooster, with flesh as 
tough as whitleather. This discovery has cast a 
shade of melancholy over the Major. 

The boys, out of pure devilment, set fire to the 
leaves, and to-night the forest was illuminated. The 
flames advanced so rapidly that, at one time, we 
feared they might get beyond control, but the fire was 
finally whipped out, not, however, without making 
as much noise in the operation as would be likely to 
occur at the burning of an entire city. 

5. General Mitchell has issued an immense num- 
ber of orders, and of course holds the commandants 
of regiments responsible for their execution. I have, 
as in duty bound, done my best to enforce them, and 
the men think me unnecessarily severe. 

To-day a soldier about half drunk was arrested for 
leaving camp without permission and brought to my 
quarters; he had two canteens of whisky on his per- 
son. I remonstrated with him mildly, but he grew 
saucy, insubordinate, and finally insolent and insult- 



92 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [January, 

ino; ; he said he did not care a damn for what I thought 
or did, and was ready to go to the giiard-honse ; in fact 
wanted to go there. Finally, becoming exasperated, I 
took the canteens from him, poured out the whisky, 
and directed Captain Patterson to strap him to a tree 
until he cooled off somewhat. The Captain failing in 
his efforts to fasten him securely, I took my saddle 
girth, backed him up to the tree, buckled him to it, 
and returned to my quarters. This proved to be the 
last straw which broke the unfortunate cameFs back. 
It was a hi^h-handed outrage upon the person of a 
volunteer soldier; the last and Avorst of the many 
arbitrary and severe acts of Avhich I had been guilty. 
The regiment seemed to arise en masse, and led on by 
a few reckless men who had long disliked me, ad- 
vanced with threats and fearful oaths toward my tent. 
The bitter hatred which the men entertained for me 
had now culminated. It being Sunday the whole 
regiment was off duty, and while some, and perhaps 
many, of the boys had no desire to resort to violent 
measures, yet all evidently sympathized with the pris- 
oner, and regarded my action as arbitrary and cruel. 
The position of the soldier was a humiliating one, 
but it gave him no bodily pain. Possibly I had no 
authority for punishing him in this way; and had I 
taken time for reflection it is more than probable I 
should have found some other and less objectionable 
mode ; confinement in the guard-house, however, 
would have been no punishment for such a man; on 
the contrary it would have afforded him that relief 
from disagreeable duty which he desired. At any 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 93 

rate the act, ^vlietlier right or wrong, had been done, 
and I must either stand by it now or abandon all 
hope of controlling the regiment hereafter, I watched 
the mob, unobserved by it, from an opening in my 
tent door. Saw it gather, consult, advance, and could 
hear the boisterous and threatening language very 
plainly. Buckling my pistol belt under my coat 
where it could not be seen, I stepped out just as 
the leaders advanced to the tree for the purpose of 
releasing the man. I asked them very quietly what 
they proposed to do. Then I explained to them how 
the soldier had vic^lated orders, which I was bound by 
my oath to enforce; how, when I undertook to remon- 
strate kindly against such unsoldierly conduct, he 
had insulted and defied me. Then I continued as 
calmly as I ever spoke, ^^I understand you have come 
here to untie him; let the man who desires to un- 
dertake the work begin — if there be a dozen men 
here who have it in their minds to do this thing — let 
them step forward — I dare them to do it.'' '^^bey saw 
before them a quiet, ])]ain man Avho was ready to die 
if need be; they could not doubt his honesty of pur- 
pose. He gave them time to act and .answer, they 
stood irresolute and silent; with a wave of the hand 
he bade them go to their quarters, and they went. 

General Mitchell hearing of my trouble sent for 
me. I explained to him the difficulties under which I 
was laboring; told him what I had done and wdiy I 
had done it. He said he understood my position 
fully, that I must go ahead, do my duty and he 
would stand by me, and, if necessary, sustain me with 



94 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Januarv, 

his whole division. I replied that I needed no assist- 
ance ; that the officers, with but few exceptions, were 
my friends, and that I believed there were enough 
good, sensible soldiers in the regiment to see me 
through. He talked very kindly to me; but I feel 
greatly discouraged. The Colonel has practically 
abandoned the regiment in this period of bad weather, 
when rigorous discipline is to be enforced, and the 
boys seem to feel that I am taking advantage of his 
absence to display my authority, and require from 
them the performance of hard and unnecessary tasks. 
Many non-commissioned officers have been reduced 
to the ranks by court-martial for being absent Avith- 
out leave, and many privates have been punished 
in various ways for the same reason. It was my 
duty to approve or disapprove the finding of the 
court. Disapproval in the majority of cases would 
have been subversive of all discipline. Approval 
has brought doAvn upon me not only the hatred and 
curses of the soldiers tried and punished, but in some 
instances the ill-will also of their fathers, Avho for 
years were my neighbors and friends. 

Very many of these soldiers think they should be 
allowed to w^ork wdien they please, play Avhen they 
please, and, in short, do as they please. Until this 
idea is expelled from their minds the regiment avIU 
be but little if any better than a mob. 

7. We hear of the Colonel occasionally. He is 
still at Louisville, running his train on the broad 
gauge. His regiment, he says, has been maneuvering 
in the face of the enemy beyond Green river^ threat- 



I862.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 95 

eiicd with an attack day and night. Constant vigi- 
lance and continued exposure in this most inclement 
season of the year, so undermined his health that he 
was compelled to retire a little while to recuperate. 
He affirms that he has the best regiment of soldiers 
in the service; but, unfortunately, has not a field 
officer worth a damn. 

Kobt. E. Lee was the great man of the rebel army 
in West Virginia. The boys all talked about Lee, 
and told how they would pink him if op[)ortunity 
offijred. But Simon Bolivar Buckner is the man here 
on whom they all threaten to fall violently. There 
are certainly a hundred soldiers in the Third, each 
one of whom swears every day that he would whip 
Simon Bolivar Buckner quicker than a wink if he 
dared present himself. Simon is in danger. 

Had the third sergeants in my school to-night. 
Am getting to be a pretty good teacher. 

10. General Mitchell gave the officers a very in- 
teresting lecture this evening. He is indefatigable. 
The whole division has become a school. 

Had five lieutenants before me. Lesson : grand 
guards and other outposts. 

IL The General summoned the officers of his 
division about him and went through the form of 
sending out advanced guard, posting picket, grand 
guards, outposts, and sentinels. During these exer- 
cises we rode fifteen or twenty miles, and listened to 
at least twenty speeches. My horse was very gay, 
and I had the pleasure of running many races. 
I learned something, and am learning a little each 



96 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Januarv, 

day. Had the lieutenants in my school again to- 
night. Lesson : detachments, reconnoissances, parti- 
sans, and flankers. 

12. The officers dress better, as a rule, than in 
West Virginia. The only man who has not, in this 
regard, changed for the better, is the Major. He con- 
tinues the careless fellow he was. Occasionally he 
makes an eifort to have his boots polished; but finds 
the day altogether too short for the work, and aban- 
dons the job in despair. 

14. Every day we have the roar of artillery, the 
rattle of musketry, the prancing of impatient steeds, 
the marching and countermarching of battalions, the 
roll of the drum, the clash and clatter of sabers, and 
the thunder of a thousand mounted men, as they 
hurry hither and yon. But nobody is hurt; it is all 
practice and drill. 

16. People who live in houses would hardly be- 
lieve one can sleep comfortably with his nose sep- 
arated from the. coldest winter wind by simply a thin 
cotton canvas ; but such is the fact. 

19. General Dumont called. He is to-day com- 
mandant of the camp. The General is an eccentric 
genius, and has an inexhaustible fund of good 
stories. He uses the words *^ damned" and "be- 
damned " rather too often ; but this adds, rather than 
detracts, from his popularity. He dispenses good 
whisky at his quarters very freely, and this has a 
tendency also to elevate him in the estimation of his 
subordinates. 

General Mitchell never drinks and never swears. 



1862.3 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 97 

Occasionally he uses the words '^confound it" in 
rather savage style ; but further than this I have 
never heard him go. Mitchell is military; Dumont 
militia. The latter winks at the shortcomings of the 
soldier ; the former does not. 

25. We are not studying so much as we 
were. The General's grasp has relaxed, and he 
does not hold us with a tight reign and stiff bit 
any longer. 

There is a great deal of sickness among the troops; 
many cases of colds, rheumatism, and fever, resulting 
from exposure. Passing through the company quar- 
ters of our regiment at midnight, I was alarmed by 
the constant and heavy coughing of the men. I fear 
the winter will send many more to the grave than the 
bullets of the enemy, for a year to come. 

26. A body of cavalry got in our rear last night 
and attempted to destroy the Nolan creek bridge ; 
but it was driven off by the guard, after a sharp en- 
gagement, in which report says nine of the enemy 
were killed and six of our men. 

The enemy is doing but little in our front. A 
night or two ago he ventured to within a few miles 
of our forces on Green river, burnt a station-house, 
and retired. 

28. The Colonel returned at noon. I was among 
the first to visit him. He greeted me very cordially, 
and called God to witness that he had never spoken 
a disparaging word of me. Busy bodies and liars, he 
said, had created all the trouble between us. He had 
9 



QS THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; FJanuary-, 

heard that charges were to be preferred against him ; 
he kne^Y they coukl not be sustained, and believed 
it an attempt of his enemies to injure him and pre- 
vent his promotion. He affirmed that he had enlisted 
from the purest of motives, and entered into a gen- 
eral defense of his acts as an officer and gentleman.. 
I listened respectfully to his statement, and then said : 
^' Colonel, if your conduct has been such as you de- 
scribe, you need not fear an investigation. I hold in 
my hand the charges and specifications of which you 
have heard. They are signed by my hand. I make 
them believing them to be true. If false, the court 
will so find, and I shall be the one to suffer. If true, 
you are nnfit to command this regiment or any other, 
and it should be known. I present the charges to 
you, the commanding officer of the Third Regiment, 
and with them a written request that they be for- 
warded to the General commanding the division.^' 
He took the package, tore open the envelope, and 
seated himself while he read. 

In less than an hour Captains LaAvson and Wing 
called on me to report that the Colonel would resign 
if I would withdraw the charges. I consented to 
do so. 

31. Had dress parade this evening, at which the 
Colonel officiated, it being his first appearance since 
his return. 

Ascertaining that he had not sent in his resigna- 
tion, I wrote him a note calling attention to the promise 
made on the 29th instant, and suggesting that it 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 99 

would be well to terminate an unpleasant matter with- 
out unnecessary delay. 

We had a case of disappointed love in the regiment 
last night. A sergeant of Captain Mitchell's com- 
pany was engaged to a girl of Athens county. They 
were to be married upon his return from the war, and 
until within a month have been corresponding regu- 
larly. Suddenly and without explanation she ceased 
to write, why he could not imagine. He never, how- 
ever, doubted that she would be faithful to him. His 
anxiety to hear from home increased, until finally he 
learned from her brother, a soldier of the Eighteenth 
Ohio, that she was married. Strong, healthy, good- 
looking fellow that he was, this intelligence prostrated 
him completely, and made him crazy as a loon. He 
imagined that he was in hell, thought Dr. Seyes the 
devil, and so violent did he become that they had to 
bind him. 

This morning he is more calm, but still deranged. 
He thought the straws in his bunk were thorns, and 
would pluck at them with his fingers and exclaim : 
"My God, ain't they sharp?" Captain Mitchell 
called, and the boys said : " Sergeant, do n't you know 
him?" "Yes," he replied, ^'he is one of the devils." 
The Captain said : " Sergeant, do n't you know where 
you are?" " Of course I do; I'm in hell." When 
they were binding him he said: "That's right; heap 
on the coals; put me in the hottest place." While 
Dr. Seyes was preparing something to quiet him — 
laudanum, perhaps — he said : " Bring on your poison ; 
I '11 take it." -7 



100 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; (January, 

The boys, while living roughly, exposed to hard- 
ships and dangers, think more of their sweethearts 
than ever before, and are constantly recurring, in 
their talk, to the comfortable homes and pleasant 
scenes from which they are for the present sep- 
arated. 



i862.] OR. MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 101 



FEBRUARY, 1862^ 



1. The Colonel sent in his resignation this morn- 
ing. It will go to Department head-quarters to- 
morrow. 

Saw the new moon over my right shoulder this even- 
ing, which I accept as an omen of good luck. Let 
it come. It will suit me just as well now as at any- 
time. If deceived, I shall never more have faith in 
the moon ; and as for the man in the moon, I shall 
call him a cheat to his face. 

2. The devil is to pay in the regiment. The 
Colonel is doing his utmost to create a disturbance. 
His friends are busy among the privates. At noon 
an effort was made to get up a demonstration on the 
color line in his behalf. Now a petition is being cir- 
culated among the privates requesting Major Keifer 
and me to resign. 

The night is as dark as pitcli. A few minutes ago 
a shout went up for the Colonel, and was swelled from 
point to point along the line of company tents, until 
now possibly five hundred voices have joined in the 
yell. The ColonePs friends tell the boys that if he 
were to remain he would obtain leave for the regi- 
ment to go back to Camp Dennison to recruit; that 



102 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [February, 

he was about to obtain rifles and Zouave uniforms for 
them, and that there is a conspiracy among the officers 
to crush him. 

3. Petitions from four companies, embracing two 
hundred and twenty-five names, have been presented, 
requesting the Major and Lieutenant-Colonel to resign. 

4. We closed up the day with a dress parade, the 
Colonel in command. The camp is more boisterous 
than usual. No more petitions have been presented. 

The Major received a package from home to-night 
containing, among other articles, a pair of slippers, 
Avhich, greatly to my advantage, were too small for 
him. They were turned over to me, and it happens 
that no little thing could have been more acceptable. 

The bright moonlight of to-night enlivens our 
spirits somewhat, and fills us with new courage. The 
days have been dark and gloomy, and the nights still 
more so, for many days and nights past. 

From the band of the Tenth Ohio, half a mile 
away, come strains mellow and sweet. The air is 
full of moonlight and music. The boys are in a hap- 
pier mood, and' a round, full voice comes to us from 
the tents with the words of an old Scotch song : 

" March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale ! 

AVliy, my lads, dinua ye march forward in order? 
March, march, Eskale and Liddlesdale ! 

All the blue bonnets are over the border. 
Many a banner spread flutters above your head, 

Many a crest that is famous in story ; 
Mount and make ready, then, sons of the mountain glen ! 

FJQ-ht for the Kino; and the old Scottish border ! 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 103 

5. The Major and Mr. Furay are engaged in a 
tremendous dispute. Furay is positive he can not be 
mistaken^ and the Major laughs him to scorn. When 
these gentlemen lock horns in dead earnest the clatter 
of words becomes terrible, and the combat ends only 
when both fall on their cots exhausted. 

6. The Colonel's resignation has been accepted. 
He delivered his valedictory to the regiment this 
evening. Subsequently he passed through the com- 
pany quarters, shaking hands with the boys and bid- 
ding them farewell. Still later he made a speech, in 
which he called God to witness that he was a loyal 
man, and promised to pray for us all. The regiment 
is disorderly, if not mutinous cveu. The best thing 
he can do for it and himself is to get out. 

8. The Colonel has bidden us a final adieu. His 
most devoted adherents escorted him to the depot, 
and returned miserably drunk. 

One of the color guards, an honest, sensible, good- 
looking boy, has written me a letter of encourage- 
ment. I trust that soon all will feel as kindly to- 
ward me as he. 

10. We left Bacon creek at noon. There were 
ten thousand men in advance of us, witli immense 
baggage trains. The roads bad, and our march slow, 
tedious, and disagreeable. Many of the officers im- 
bibed freely, and the senior surgeon, an educated gen- 
tleman, and very popular with the boys, became 
gloriously elevated. He kept his eye pealed for se- 
cesh, and before reaching Munfordsville found a cit- 
izen twice as big as himself in possession of a double- 



104 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; {February, 

barreled shot-gun. Taking it for granted that he was 
an enemy, the Doctor drew a revolver and bade him 
surrender unconditionally. The boys said the Doctor 
was as tight as a little bull. What phase of inebriety 
this remark indicated I am unable to say; but certain 
it is that he did not for a moment lose sight of his 
gigantic. prisoner, nor give him the slightest oppor- 
tunity to escape. He was quite triumphant in his 
bearing; directed the movements of the captive in a 
h)ud and imperious tone, and favored him with much 
patriotic advice. 

A wagon with six unbroken mules attached is an 
uncertain conveyance. If the mules are desired to 
stop suddenly, they are certain not to do so, and if 
commanded to start suddenly, they are just as sure not 
to obey. If, after an immense amount of whipping and 
many fervent asseverations on the part of the driver 
that all mules should be in Tophet, they conclude 
to start at all, they go as if determined to reach the 
place indicated without unnecessary delay. If a mud- 
hole, ditch, tree, or any other obstacle lies in the way, 
and the driver cries whoa, the mules redouble their 
speed, and rush forward as if they did not in the 
slightest degree consider themselves responsible either 
for the driver's neck or the traps with which the 
wagon is laden. 

It was about eight o'clock in the evening when we 
crossed the bridge over Green river. The moon had 
around it a halo, in which appeared very distinctly 
all the colors of the National flag — red, white, and 
blue — and the boys said it was a good omen ; that 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 105 

they were Union people up there, and had hung out 
the Stars and Stripes. 

12. To-morrow we start for Bowling Green, our 
division in the lead. Before night we shall overtake 
the rebels, and before the next evening will doubtless 
fight a battle. 

13. Long before sunrise the whole division was 
astir, and at seven o'clock moved forward, our brigade 
in the center. Far as the eye could reach, both in 
front and rear, the road was crowded with men. A 
score of bands filled the air with martial strains, while 
the morning sun brightened the muskets, and made 
the flags look more cheerful and brilliant. The day 
was warm and pleasant. The country before us was, 
in a military sense, unexplored, and every ear was 
open to catch the sound of the first gun. The con- 
viction that a battle was imminent kept the men 
steady and prevented straggling. We passed many 
fine houses, and extensive, well improved farms. But 
few white people were seen. The negroes appeared 
to have entire possession. 

Six miles from Green river a young and very pretty 
girl stood in the doorway of a handsome farm-house 
and waved the flag of the Union. Cheer after cheer 
arose along the line; officers saluted, soldiers waved 
their hats, and the bands played ^^ Yankee Doodle '^ 
and " Dixie." That loyal girl captured a thousand 
hearts, and I trust some gallant soldier who shallwin 
honorable scars in battle may retnrn in good time to 
crown her his Queen of Love and Beauty. 

From this on for fifteen miles we found neither 



106 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [February, 

springs nor streams. The conntry is cavernous, and 
the only water is that of the ponds. In all of these 
we discovered dead and decaying horses, mules, and 
dogs. The rebels in this way had sought to deprive 
us of water ; but while their action in this regard oc- 
casioned a vast deal of profanity among the boys, it 
did not in the least retard the column. We were, 
however, delayed somewhat by the felled trees with 
which they had obstructed miles of the road. At 
sunset we halted and pitched our tents in a large field, 
near what is known as Bell's Tavern, on the Louis- 
ville and Nashville Railroad. We had marched 
eighteen miles. 

The w^ater used in the preparation of the evening 
meal was that of the ponds. The thought of the rot- 
ting dogs, horses, and mules, could not be banished, 
and when the Major sipped his coifee in a donbtful 
way and remarked that it tasted soupy, my stomach 
quivered on the turning point, and, hungry as I was, 
the supper gave me no further enjoyment. 

14. Resumed the march at daylight. Snow fell 
last night. The day was exceedingly cold, and the 
wind pierced through us like needles of ice. I think 
I never experienced so sudden and extreme a change 
in the weather. It was too cold to ride, and I dis- 
mounted and walked twelve miles. We were certain 
of a fight, and so pushed on with rapid pace. A reg- 
iment of cavalry and Loomis' battery were in ad- 
vance. When within ten miles of Bowling Green 
the guns opened in our front. Leaving the regiment 
in charge of the Major, I rode ahead rapidly as I 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 107 

could, and reached the river bank opposite Bowling 
Green in time to see a detachment of rebel cavalry 
fire the buildings which contained their army stores. 
The town was ablaze in twenty different places. 
They had destroyed the bridge over Barren river in 
the morning, and now, having finished the work of 
destruction, went galloping over the bills. When the 
regiment arrived, it was quartered in a camp but re- 
cently evacuated by the enemy. The night was bit- 
ter cold ; but the boys soon had a hundred fires 
blazing, and made themselves very comfortable. 

15. This morning we Avere called out at daylight 
to cross the river and take possession of the town; a 
sorrier, hungrier lot of fellows never rolled out of 
warm blankets into the icy wind. It was impossible 
for many of them to get their wet and frozen shoes 
on, but we hurried down to the river, and were there 
halted until it was ascertained that our presence on 
the opposite side was not required, when we Avent 
back to our old quarters. 

16. To-day we crossed the Big Barren, and are 
now in Bowling Green. Turchin^s brigade preceded 
us, and has gutted many houses. The rebels burned 
a million dollars worth of stores, but left enough 
pork, salt beef, and other necessaries to su23ply our 
division for a month; in fact the cigar I am smoking, 
the paper on which I write, the ink and pen, were all 
captured. 

General Beauregard left the day before our arrival. 
It is said he was for days reported to be lying in 
General Hardee's quarters, dangerously ill, and that 



lOS rili: CI 1I/I;N S()I.I)II'-,R; |KKHKt;Ai<v. 

IIIhIcI- <'(>\'('|- (>(' (Ilis !-('|)()l( lie led iowii (ll'CSScd ill 

clli/cirs clollics niul N'isilcd our caiiips on (irccii 
Uivr. 

1 -S. Tlic wcnllicr Is liiruliii;- warm Mt;:ilM, liic incii 
arc (juarlcicd in houses. 1 I'oom at th(^ Ijolcl. M'liis 
sorl ol' life, liowcvci- pleasant it may be, lias a demor- 
ali/ini;- ell'eel upon (he soldiei". 

I'd. S]>en( (he forenoon at th(MMvor Jissistln^ somo- 
what in ^-eMini;' oni* Iraiisporlalion over. I( is a rainy 
(lav, and I i^ot wcl (olhe skin and 1 horoni;hly chilled. 
Afler dinner I went lo hed while William, my ser- 
vant, |)n( a l"\v neeessaiT slit(-hes in my appaind, and 
di'ied m\ underelol hini;- and hoots. I am badly olf 
("or <'lolhiiiL;' ; m\- coal is ont at the ell)ow^s, and my 
panlahxMis ai'c in a i-evolntionary condition, tln^ seat 
haviiiii; secccled. 

The Cincinnati (Ja/ette o{* the 1 1th itistant. reports 
that I have been promoted. Thaidvs. 

20. Wc IcaiMi from a ndiablc sonrce that Nashville 
has been evacuated. The enemy is said to be concen- 
tratin«ij at JMurl'reesboro, twenty or thirty miles 
beyond. 

'^rhe I'ivcr has risen lilteen ieet,and manv ol' our 
teams are still (Hi the other side. The water swelled 
so rapidly that two teauis ol' six nudes each, parked 
on the river bank last nii;ht so as to be in readiness 
to cross on the Icriy this mornini;,-, were swept away. 

Captain Mitchell returned this eveninii' from a ti'ip 
North. \\^' are olad to have him back a^ain. 

21. Heai- that I^'oi-t Donelson has l)een tak(>n 
after a terrible lii;ht, and ten thousand ears are eager 



»?/,2.1 OP., MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 109 

to }joar more al^oiit tiic cngafr^rn^'nt. Xo toams 
r;ro«Hcd the river to-day; we are flood bound. 

There was an immense nurnU^r of* deatljs in the 
rel>el army while it encamped here. It i« said three 
thousand .Sjuthern Sf>ldierB are buried in the vicinity 
()i' the tfjwn. Tiiey could not stand the rigoroim 
Northern cMmaUt. A Mississippi regiment reported 
hut tljirteen men for duty. 

22. Movf.'d at sevf.'U in the morning toward Xash- 
viHe without wagonn, tennis or eamj> ef]iii])age. 
^^arched twenty miles in tlie rain and were drenched 
completely. The hoys found some sort of shelter 
during the night in t^jhacco houses, barns, and straw 
j>)]c-. 

2-j. The day pleanant and sunshiny. The feet 
of tijc men badly blistered, and the regiment limps 
along in wretched style; made fifteen miles. 

24. J touted out at daylight and ordered to make 
Nashville, a distance of thirty-two miles. Many of 
the boys have no shoes, and the feet of many are still 
very sore The journey seems long, };ut we are at 
the iiead of the column, and that stimulates us some- 
what. Have sent my horse to the rear to help along 
the very lame, and am making the march on foot. 

The martial band of the regiment is doing its 
utmr»st to keep the boys in good spirits; the base 
drum sounds like distant thunder, and the wind of 
Hughes, tlie fifer, is inexhaiintible; he can blow five 
rnih'H at a stretcli. The rnemljers of the band are in 
good j>lufk, and when not playing, either sing, tell 
stori(.'S, or indulge in rf-mini^cenceH of a personal cliar- 



110 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [February, 

acter. Russia has been badgering William Heney, 
a drummer. He says that while at Elkwater Heney 
sparked one of Esquire Stalnaker's daughters, and 
that the lady's little sister going into the room quite 
suddenly one evening called back to the father, 
" Dad, dad, William Heney has got his arm around 
Susan Jane !" Heney affirms that the story is untrue. 
Lochey favors us with a song, which is known as the 
w^arble. 

"Thou, thou reignest in this bosom, 
There, there hast thou thy throne; 

Thou, thou knowest that I love thee; 
Am I not fondly thine own? 

Ya— ya— ya— ya. 
Am I not fondly thine own? 

CHORUS. 

Das unda claus ish mein, 
Das unda claus ish mein. 
Cants do nic mock un do. 

On the banks of the Ohio river, 

In a cot lives my Rosa so fair ; 
She is called Jim Johnson's darky. 

And has nice curly black hair. 
Tre alo, tre alo, tre ola, ti. 

O come with me to the dear little spot, 
And I'll show you the place I was born. 

In a little log hut by a clear running brook. 
Where blossom the wild plum and thorn. 
Tre ola, tre ola, treo la ti. 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. Ill 

Mein fadter, mein modter, mein sister, mein frau, 
Undt swi glass of beer for meinself, 

Undt dey call mein wife one blacksmit vsliop ; 
Such dings I never did ?ee in my life. 
Tre ola, tre ola, tre ola ti." 

25. General Nelson^s command came up the Cum- 
berland by boat and entered Nashville ahead of us. 
The city, however, had surrendered to our division 
before Nelson arrived. We failed simply in being 
the first troops to occupy it,- and this resulted from 
detention at the river-crossing. 

27. Crossed the Cumberland and moved through 
Nashville; the regiment behaved handsomely, and 
was followed by a great crowd of colored people, who 
appeared to be delighted with the music. General 
Mitchell complimented us on our good behavior and 
appearance. 

28. Captain Wilson, Fourth Ohio Cavalry, was 
shot dead while on picket. One of his sergeants had 
eight balls put through him, but still lives. 



112 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 



MARCH, 1862 



1. Our brigade, in command of General Dumont, 
started for Lavergne, a village eleven miles out on the 
Murfreesboro road, to look after a regiment of cav- 
alry said to be in occupation of the i^lace. Arrived 
there a little before sunset, but found the enemy had 
disappeared. 

The troops obtained whisky in the village, and 
many of the soldiers became noisy and disorderly. 

A little after nightfall the compliments of a Mrs. 
Harris were presented to me, with request that I 
would be kind enough to call. The handsome little 
white cottage where she lived was near our bivouac. 
It was the best house in the village; and, as I ascer- 
tained afterward, very tastefully if not elegantly 
furnished. She was a woman of perhaps forty. Her 
husband and daughter were absent; the former, I 
think, in the Confederate service. She had only a 
servant with her, and was considerably frightened 
and greatly incensed at the conduct of some soldiers, 
of she knew not what regiment, who had persisted in 
coming into her house and treating her rudely. In 
short, she desired protection. She had a lively 
tongue in her head, and her request for a guard was, 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 113 

I thought, not preferred in the gentlest and most amia- 
ble way. Her comments on our Northern soldiers 
were certainly not complimentary to them. She said 
she had supposed hitherto that soldiers were gentlemen. 
I confessed that they ought to be at least. She said, 
rather emphatically, that Southern soldiers were gen- 
tlemen. I replied that I did not doubt at all the 
correctness of her statement ; but, unfortunately, the 
branch of the Northern army to which I had the 
honor to belong had not been able to get near enough 
to them to obtain any personal knowledge on the 
subject. 

The upshot of the five minutes' interview was a 
promise to send a soldier to protect Mrs. Harris' 
property and person during the night. 

Returning to the regiment I sent for Sergeant 
Woolbaugh. He is one of the handsomest men in 
the regiment; a printer by trade, an excellent con- 
versationalist, a man of extensive reading, and of 
thorough information respecting current affairs. I 
said: "Sergeant, I desire you to brighten up your 
musket, and clothes if need be, go over to the little 
white cottage on the right and stand guard.^^ " All 
right, sir." 

As he was leaving I called to him : " If the lady 
of the house shows any inclination to talk with you, 
encourage and gratify her to the top of her bent. I 
want her to know what sort of men our Northern 
soldiers are." 

The Sero-eant in due time introduced himself to 
10 



114 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

Mrs. Harris, and was invited into the sitting room. 
They soon engaged in conversation, and finally fell 
into a discnssion of the issue between the North and 
South which lasted until after midnight. The lady, 
although treated with all courtesy, certainly obtained 
no advantage in the controversy, and must have 
arisen from it with her ideas respecting Northern 
soldiers very materially changed. 

2. Started on the return to Nashville at three 
o'clock in the morning. The boys being again dis- 
appointed in not finding the enemy, and considerably 
under the influence of liquor, conducted themselves 
in a most disorderly and unsoldierly way. 

Have not had a change of clothing since we crossed 
the Great Barren river. 

6. Regiment on picket. 

When returning from the front I met a soldier of 
the Thirty-seventh Indiana, trudging along with his 
gun on his shoulder. I asked him where he was 
going ; he replied that his father lived four miles 
beyond, and he had just heard that his brother was 
home from the Southern army on sick leave, and he 
was going out to take him prisoner. 

8. This afternoon the camp was greatly excited 
over a daring feat of a body of cavalry under John 
Morgan. It succeeded in getting almost inside the 
camps, and was five miles inside of our outposts. It 
came into the main road between where Kennett's 
cavalry regiment is encamped and Nashville ; cap- 
tured a wagon train, took the drivers. Captain Bra- 
den, of Indiana, who was in charge of the train, and 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 115 

eighty-three horses, and started on a by-road back for 
Murfreesboro. General Mitchell immediately dis- 
patched Kennctt in pursuit. About fifteen miles out 
the rebels were overtaken and our men and horses re- 
captured. Two rebels were killed and two taken ; 
Kennett is still in hot pursuit. Captain Braden says, 
as the rebels were riding away they were exceedingly 
jubilant over the success of their adventure, and 
promised to introduce him to General Hardee in the 
evening. Wi.Iiout asking the Captain\s permission 
they gave him a very poor horse in exchange for a 
very good one, j)ut him at the head of the column 
and guarded him vigilantly; but when Kennett ap- 
p;'ared and the running fight occurred he dodged off 
at full speed, lay down on his horse, and although 
fired at many times escaped unhurt. 

Morgan's men know the country so well that all the 
by-roads and cow-paths are familiar to them; the 
citizens keep them informed also as to the location of 
our camps and picket posts, and if need be are ready 
to serve them either as guides or spies, hence the suc- 
cess which attended the earlier part of their enter- 
prise does not indicate so great a want of vigilance 
on the part of our tmops, as might at first thought l)e 
supposed. 

9. The enemy made a descent on one of our out- 
posts, killed one man and wounded another. 

16. Went to Nashville this morning to buy a few 
necessaries. While awaiting dinner at the St. Cloud 
I took a seat outside the door. Quite a number of 
Union officers were seated or standing in front of the 



116 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

hotel, when two well, extremely well, dressed women, 
followed by a negro lady, approached, and while pass- 
ing us held their noses. What disagreeable thing the 
atmosphere in our immediate vicinity contained that 
made it necessary for these lovely women to so pinch 
their nasal protuberances, I could not discover; cer- 
tainly the officers looked cleanly, many of them 
were young men of the " double-bullioned" kind, 
who had spared no expense in decorating their per- 
sons with shoulder straps, golden bugles, and other 
shining trappings which appertain somehow to glo- 
rious war. 

After dinner I dropped into a drug store to buy a 
cake of soap. The druggist gave me, in the way of 
change, several miserably executed shin plasters. I 
asked : 

" Do you call this money ?^' 

" I do.^' 

"I wonder that every printing office in the South 
does not commence the manufacture of such money." 

" O, no,'^ he replied in a sneering Avay ; " in the 
North they might do that, but in the South no one is 
disposed to make counterfeit money." 

" Yes," I retorted, *^ the Southern people are very 
honest no doubt, but I apprehend there is a better 
reason for not counterfeiting the money than you 
have assigned. It is probably not worth counterfeit- 
ing." 

Private Hawes of the Third is remarkably fond of 
pies, and a notorious straggler withal. He has just 
returned to camp after being away for some days, and 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 117 

accounts for his absence by saying that he was in the 
country looking for pies, when Morgan's men ap- 
peared suddenly, shot his horse from under him, 
mounted him behind a soldier and carried him away. 
The private is now in the guard -house entertaining a 
select company with a narrative of his t^ventures. 

We have much trouble with escaped negroes. In 
some way we have obtained the reputation of being 
abolitionists, and the colored folks get into our regi- 
mental lines, and in some mysterious way are so dis- 
posed of that their masters never hear of them again. 
It is possible the two saw-bones, who officiate at the 
hospital, dissect, or desiccate, or boil them in the in- 
terest of science, or in the manufacture of the villain- 
ous compounds with which they dose us when ill. 
At any rate, we know that many of these sable crea- 
tures, who joined us at Bowling Green and on the 
road to Nashville, can not now be found. Their 
masters, following the regiment, made complaint to 
General Buell, and, as we learn, spoke disparagingly 
of the Third. An order issued requiring us to sur- 
render the negroes to the claimants, and to keep col- 
ored folks out of our camp hereafter. I obeyed the 
order promptly; commanded all the colored men in 
camp to assemble at a certain hour and be turned over 
to their masters ; but the misguided souls, if indeed 
there were any, failed to put in an appearance, and 
could not be found. The scamps, I fear, took ad- 
vantage of my notice and hid away, much to the re- 
gret of all who desire to preserve the Union as it 
was, and greatly to the chagrin of the gentlemen who 



118 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

expected to take them handcuffed back to Kentucky. 
One of these fugitives, a handsome mukitto bo3% bor- 
rowed five dolkirs of me, and the same amount 
of Doctor Seyes, not half an hour before the time 
Avhen he was to be delivered up, but I fear now the 
money will nearer be repaid. 

18 Started for Murfreesboro. The day is beauti- 
ful and the regiment marches well. Encamped for the 
night near Lavergne. I called on my friend Mrs. 
Harris. She received me cordially and introduced 
me to her daughter, a handsome young lady of sev- 
enteen or eighteen. They were both extremely 
Southern in their views, but chatted pleasantly over 
the situation, and Mrs. Harris spoke of Sergeant 
AYoolbaugh, the guard furnished her on our first visit, 
in very complimentary terms; in fact, she w^as sur- 
prised to find such men in the ranks of the Federal 
army. I assured her that there were scores like him 
in every regiment, and that our army was made up of 
the flower of the Northern people. 

19. The rebels having burned the bridges on the 
direct road, w^e were compelled to diverge to the left 
and take a longer route; toward evening Ave went 
into camp on the plantation of a widow lady, and 
here for the first time in my life I saw a field of cot- 
tou ; the old stalks still standing with many bulbs 
which had escaped the pickers. 

20. Turned out at four o'clock in the morning, 
got breakfast, struck our tents, and were ready to 
march at six ; but the brigade being now ordered to 
take the rear, we stood uncovered in a drenching rain 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 119 

three hours for the division and transportation to pass. 
All were thoroughly wet and benumbed with cold, 
but as if to show contempt for the weather the Third 
sang with great unction : 

" There is a hind of pure delight, 
Where saints immortal reign ; 
Infinite day excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain. 

There everlasting spring abides, 
And never withering flowers; 

Death, like a narrow sea, divides 
This heavenly land from ours." 

Soon after getting under way the sky cleared, and 
the sun made its appearance ; the band struck up, 
and at every plantation negroes came flocking to the 
roadside to see us. They are the only friends we 
find. They have heard of the abolition army, the 
music, the banners, the glittering arms ; possibly the 
hope that their masters will be humbled and their 
own condition improved, gladdens their hearts and 
leads them to welcome us with extravagant manifesta- 
tions of joy. They keep time to the music with feet 
and hands, and hurrah " fur de ole flag and de Union, ^^ 
sometimes following us for miles. Parson Strong at- 
tempts to do a little missionary work. A dozen or 
more negroes stand in a group by the roadside. Said 
the Parson to an old man : ^' My friend, are you re- 
ligious ? " 



120 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

^' Ko, massa, I is not ; sebeii of my folks is, an cley 
is all prayen fnr your sicle.'^ 

Hailing a little knot, I said : " Boys where do you 
live?^^ 

'' Lib ^vid Massa , sail/' 

"All Union people, I suppose?" 

"Dey say dey is, but dey isn't." 

One old woman — evidently a great-grandmother in 
Israel — climbed on the fence, clapped her hands, 
shouted for joy, and "brcssed de Lord dat dar was de 
ole flag agin." 

To a colored boy who stole into our lines last night, 
with his little bundle under his arm, the Major said: 
" Does n't it make you feel bad to run away from 
your masters ?" 

" Oh, no, massa ; dey is gone, too." 

Reached Murfreesboro in the afternoon. 

22. Men at work rebuilding the railroad bridge. 
General Dumont returns to Nashville. Colonel 
Lytle, of the Tenth Ohio, will assume command of 
our brigade. 

My servant has imposed upon me for about a 
month. He arises in the morning when he pleases; 
prepares my meals when it suits his pleasure, and is 
disposed in every thing to make me adapt my busi- 
ness to his own notions. This morning I became so 
provoked over his insolence and laziness that, in a 
moment of passion, I knocked him down. Since 
then there has been a decided improvement in his 
bearing. The blow seems to have awakened him to 
a sense of his duty. 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 121 

25. So soon as the railroad is repaired^ an im- 
mense amount of cotton will be sent East from this 
section. The crops of two seasons are in tlie hands 
of the producer. We are encamped in a cotton field. 
Peach trees are now in bloom, and many early flowers 
are to be seen. 

26. The boys are having a grand cotillion party 
on the green in front of my tent, and appear to have 
entirely forgotten the privations, hardships, and dan- 
gers of soldiering. 

The army for a temperate, cleanly, cheerful man, 
is, I have no doubt, the healthiest place in the world. 
The coarse fare provided by the Government is the 
most wholesome that can be furnished. The boys 
oftenest on the sick list are those who are constantly 
running to the sutler's for gingerbread, sweetmeats, 
raisins, and nuts. They eat enormous quantities of 
this unwholesome stuff, and lose appetite for more 
substantial food. Finding that all desire for hard 
bread and bacon has disappeared, they conclude that 
they must be ill, and instead of taking exercise, lie 
in their tents until they finally become really sick. 
A contented, temperate, cheerful, cleanly man w^IU 
live forever in the army ; but a despondent, intem- 
perate, gluttonous, dirty soldier, let him be never so 
fat and strong when he enters the service, is sure to 
get on the sick list, and finally into the hospital. 

The dance on the green is progressing with in- 
creased vigor. The music is excellent. At this mo- 
ment the gentlemen are going to the right; now they 
11 



122 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; Piarch, 

promenade all ; in a minute more the ladies Avill be 
in the center^ and four hands round. That broth of 
an Irish boy, Conway, Avears a rooster's feather in his 
cap, and has for a partner a soldier twice as big as 
himself, whom he calls Susan. As they swing 
Conway yells at the top of his voice: ^'Come round, 
old gal V' 

28. General Mitchell relumed from Xashville on 
a hand-car. 

30. This is a pleasant Sunday. The sun shines, 
the birds sing, and the air stirs pleasantly. 

The colored people of Murfreesboro pour out in 
great numbers on Sunday evenings to witness dress 
parade, some of them in excellent holiday attire. The 
women sport flounces and the men canes. Many are 
nearly white, and all slaves. 

INIurfreesboro is an aristocratic town. Many of the 
citizens have as fine carriages as are to be seen in 
Cincinnati or Washington. On pleasant week-day 
evenings they sometimes come out to witness the 
parades. The ladies, so far as I can judge by a 
glimpse through a carriage window, are richly and 
elegantly dressed. 

The poor Avhites are as poor as rot, and the rich are 
very rich. There is no substantial well-to-do middle 
class. The slaves are, in fact, the middle class here. 
They are not considered so good, of course, as their 
masters, but a great. deal better than the white trash. 
One enthusiastic colored man said in my hearing this 
evening : " You look like solgers. No wonder dat 
you wip de white trash ob de Southern army. Dey 



i962.] 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER, 123 



ced dey could wip two ob you, but I guess one ob you 
could wip two ob dem. You is jest as big as dey is, 
and maybe a little bigger/^ 

A few miles from here, at a cross roads, is a guide- 
board: ^^B^"15 miles to Liberty." If liberty were 
indeed but fifteen miles away, the stars to-night 
would see a thousand negroes dancing on the way 
thither; old men with their wives and bundles; young 
men with their sweethearts; little barefooted chil- 
dren, all singing in their hearts: 

" De day ob jubilee hab come, ho ho I" 

On the march hither we passed a little, contempti- 
ble, tumble-down, seven-by-nine frame school-house. 
Over the door, in large letters, were the words: 

Central Academy. 

The boys laughed and said : ^^ If this is called an 
academy, what sort of things must their common 
school-houses be?'' But Tennessee is a beautiful State. 
All it lacks is free schools and freemen. 

31. Colonel Keifer, in command of four hundred 
men, started with ninety wagons for Nashville. He 
will repair the railroad in two or three places and re- 
turn with provisions. 



124 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 



APRIL, 1862. 



3. Struck our tents and started south, at two 
o'clock this afternoon; marched fifteen miles and 
bivouacked for the night. 

4. Resumed the march at seven o'clock in the 
morning, the Third in advance. At one place on the 
road a young negro, perhaps eighteen years old, broke 
from his hiding in the woods, and with hat in 
hand and a broad grin on his face, came running to 
me. " Massa," said he, ^^ I wants to go wid you." '' I 
am sorry, my boy, that I can not take you. I am not 
permitted to do it." The light went out of the poor 
fellow's eyes in a moment, and, putting on his 
slouched hat, he went away sorrowful enough. It 
seems cruel to turn our backs on these, our only friends. 
If a dog came up wagging his tail at sight of us, we 
could not help liking him better than the master, who 
not only looks sullen and cross at our approach, but 
in his heart desires our destruction. 

As we approach the Alabama line we find fewer, 
but handsomer, houses; larger plantations, and ne- 
groes more numerous. We saw droves of women 
working in the fields. When their ears caught the 
first notes of the music, they would drop the hoe and 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 125 

come running to the road, their flices all aglow with 
pleasure. May we not hope that their darkened minds 
caught glimpses of the sun of a better life, now ris- 
ing for them? 

Last night my bed-room was as grand as that ever 
occupied by a prince. The floor was carpeted with 
soft, green, velvety grass. For walls it had the pri- 
meval forest, with its drapery of luxuriant foliage. 
The ceiling, higher even than one's thoughts can 
measure, was studded with stars innumerable. The 
crescent moon added to its beauty for awhile, but 
disappeared long before I dropped oif to sleep. 

We entered Shelbyville at noon. There are more 
Union people here than at Murfreesboro, and we 
saw many glad faces as we marched through the 
streets. The band made the sky ring with music, 
and the regiment deported splendidly. One old 
woman clapped her hands and thanked heaven that 
we had come at last. Apparently almost wild with 
joy, she shouted after us, '' God be with you!'' 

We went into camp on Duck river, one mile from 
the town. 

5. General Mitchell complimented me on the good 
behavior and good appearance of the Third. He 
said it was the best regiment in his division. At 
Bacon creek, Kentucky, he was particularly severe on 
us, and attributed all our trouble to defective disci- 
pline and bad management on the part of the officers. 
On the evening when the acceptaiice of Marrow's 
resignation was read, the General was present. After 
parade was dismissed, I shook hands with him and 



126 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

said : " General, give ns a little time and we will make 
the Third the best regiment in your division/^ The 
old gentleman was glad to hear me say so, bnt smiled 
dubiously. I am glad to have him acknowledge so 
soon that we have fulfilled the promise. 

At Murfreesboro heavy details were made for 
bridge building, and one day, while superintending 
the work, the General addressed the detail from 
the Third in a very uncomplimentary way: '^ You 
lazy scoundrels, go to work! Your regiment is the 
promptest in the division to report for duty, but you 
Avill not work.'' At another time he gave an order to 
a soldier which was not obeyed with sufficient alac- 
rity, Avhen he yelled : ^' AVhat regiment do you be- 
long to?" ^^The Third." ''AYell, sir, I thought 
you were one of the obstinate devils of that regi- 
ment." At another time he rode into our camp, and 
the boys failed to rise at his approach, when he reined 
in his horse suddenly and shouted: ^^Get up here, 
you lazy scoundrels, and treat your superiors with 
respect!" Riding on a little further, a private passed 
without touching his cap: ^^ Hold on, here," said the 
General, ^^do n't you know how to salute a superior?" 
^^ Yes," stammered the boy, ^^but I did not see you." 
^' Hold up your head like a soldier, and you will 
see me." 

One nio^ht I was making the rounds in the Second 
Ohio with the General. The guard did not turn out 
promptly and he became angry ; diving into the 
guard-tent to rout them up, he ran against a big 
fellow so violently that he was nearly thrown off his 



1862.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 127 

legs. This increased his fury, and seizing the soldier 
by the coat collar he shook him ronghly, and said: 
^' You insolent dog, I'll stand insolence from no man. 
Officer, put this man under arrest immediately/' 

On the same night the guard of the Thirty-third 
Ohio turned out slowly, and some of them were found 
to have stolen off to their quarters. The General 
was still in a bad humor. '^ Where is the officer of 
the day?" he asked. ^^At his quarters, sir/' replied 
a sergeant. " Present him the compliments of the 
General commanding, and tell him if he does not 
come to the guard-tent at once, I will send a file of 
soldiers after him." The officer appeared very soon. 
I refer to these incidents to show simply that the men 
of other regiments received reprimands as well as 
those of my own. 

6. Late in the evening the officers of the regi- 
ment, with the string band, started on a serenading 
expedition. After playing sundry airs and singing 
divers songs, Ethiopian and otherwise, at the residence 
of a Mr. Warren, Miss Julia Gurnie, sister of Mrs. 
Warren, appeared on the veranda and made to us a 
very pretty Union speech. After a general introduc- 
tion to the family and a cordial reception, we bade 
them good-night, and started for another portion of 
the village. On the way thither we dropped into the 
store of a Mr. Armstrong, and imbibed rather 
copiously of apple-jack, to protect us against the 
night air, which, by the way, is always dangerous 
when apple-jack is convenient. After thus fortifying 
ourselves, we proceeded to the residence of a Mr. 



128 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

Storey. His doors were thrown open, and we entered 
his parlors. Here we had the honor to be introduced 
to Miss Storey, a handsome young lady, and Lieuten- 
ant O'Brien, nephew of Parson Brownlow. 

Lieutenant O'Brien is an officer of the rebel army. 
He accompanied Parson Brownlow to Nashville un- 
der a flag of truce, and has been loitering on his way 
back until the present time. He wears the Confed- 
erate gray, and when we entered the room was seated 
on the sofa with Miss Storey. After being intro- 
duced in due form, I placed myself by the young lady 
and endeavored to at least divide her attention Avith 
my Confederate friend. The apple-jack dilated most 
engagingly on the remarkable beauty of the evening, 
the pleasantness of the weather generally, and the de- 
lightfulness of Shelbyville. There was a piano in the 
room, and finally, after having occupied her attention 
jointly with O'Brien for some time, I took the lib- 
erty to ask her to favor us Avith a song; but she 
pleaded an awful cold, and asked to be excused. The 
apple-jack excused her. The Storeys are pleasant 
people, and I trust that, full as we were, we did noth- 
ing to lessen their respect for us. 

From Mr. Storey's Ave Avent to the house of Mr. 
Cooper, President of the Shelbyville Bank, but Avere 
not invited in, the family having retired. 

Our last call Avas at the residence of Mr. Weasner^ 
Avhilom member of the Tennessee Legislature. The 
doors were here thrown open, and a cordial iuA^itation 
given us to enter. A pitcher of good wine Avas set out, 
and soon after Miss Weasner, a very pretty young lady^ 



I862.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 129 

appeared, and played and sang many patriotic songs. 
When finally we bade this pleasant family good 
night, it was bordering on the Sabbath, and we re- 
turned to camp. 

7. Colonel Kennett, at the head of three hundred 
cavalry, made a dash into the country toward the 
Tennessee river, captured and destroyed a train on a 
branch of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, 
and returned to camp to-night with fifteen prisoners. 

8. Party at Mr. Warren's, to which many of the 
officers have gone. 

9. Moved at six o'clock in the morning. Roads 
sloppy, and in many places overflowed. Marched 
sixteen miles. 

10. Resumed the march at six o'clock A. M. 
Reached Fayetteville at noon. Passed through the 
town and encamped one mile beyond. General 
Mitchell, with Turchin's and Sill's brigades and two 
batteries, left for Huntsville on our arrival. 

There are various and contradictory rumors afloat 
respecting the condition of affairs at Shiloh. The 
rebel sympathizers here are jubilant over what they 
claim is reliable intelligence, that our army has been 
surprised and defeated. Another report, coming via 
Nashville, says that a part of our army was terribly 
beaten on Sunday ; but reinforcements arriving on 
Monday, the rebels were driven back, and our losses 
of the first day retrieved. 

A courier arrived about dark with dispatches for 
General Mitchell ; but they were forwarded to him 
unopened. 



130 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

13. Confused and unsatisfactory accounts still 
reach us of the great battle at Pittsburg Landing. 

It is strange what fortune, good or ill, our division 
has had. Taking the lead at Green river, we doubted 
not that a battle awaited us at Bowling Green. In 
advance again on the march to Nashville, we were 
sure of fighting when we reached that place. Start- 
ing again, the division pushed on alone to Mur- 
freesboro, Shelbyville, Fayetteville, and finally to 
Huntsvillc and Decatur, Alabama, at each place ex- 
pecting a battle, and yet meeting with no opposition. 
With but one division upon this line, we looked for 
hard work and great danger, and yet have found 
neither. As we advanced the honors we expected to 
win have receded or gone elsewhere, to be snatched 
up by other divisions. Tli^ boys say the Third is 
fated never to see a battle; that the Third Ohio in 
Mexico saw no fighting; that there is something mag- 
ical in the number which preserves it from all danger. 

14. The Fifteenth Kentucky remains here. The 
Third and Tenth Ohio moved at three in the after- 
noon. Roads bad and progress slow. Bivouacked 
for the night near a distillery. Many of the men 
drunk; the Tenth Ohio particularly wild. 

15. Resumed the march at six in the morning. 
Passed the plantation of Leonidas Polk Walker. He 
is said to be the wealthiest man in North Alabama. 
His domain extends for fifteen miles along the road. 
The overseer's house and the negro huts near it make 
quite a village. 

Met a good many young men returning from 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 131 

Corinth and Pittsburg Landing. Quite a number of 
them had been in the Sunday^s battle, and, being 
wounded, had been sent back to Hunts ville. General 
Mitchell had captured and released them on parole. 
Some had their heads bandaged, others their arms, 
while others, unable to walk, were conveyed 
in wagons. As they passed, our men made many 
good-natured remarks, as, ^^ Well, boys, you ^re tired 
of soldiering, ar'n't you?'' ^' Goin' home on fur- 
lough, eh?" ^^ Played out." *^ Another bold soger 
boy !" " See the soger !" 

At one point a hundred or more colored people, 
consisting of men, women, and children, flocked to 
the roadside. The band struck up, and they accom- 
panied the regiment for a mile or more, crowding and 
jostling each other in their endeavors to keep abreast 
of the music. The boys were wonderfully amused, 
and addressed to tlie motley troupe all the commands 
known to the volunteer service: ^'Steady on the 
right;" '^ Guide center;" ^^ Forward, double quick." 

Reached Huntsville at five in tlie afternoon. 

16. Just after sunset Colonel Keifer and I strolled 
into the tow^n, stopped at the hotel for a moment, 
where we saw a rebel officer in his gray uniform run- 
ning about on parole. Visited the railroad depot, 
where some two hundred rebels are confined. The 
prisoners were variously engaged; some chatting, 
others playing cards, while a few of a more devo- 
tional turn were singiug 

" Come thou fount of every blessing, 
Tune my heart to sing thy praise." 



132 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

By his timely arrival General Mitchell cut a divis- 
ion of rebel troops in two. Four thousand got by, 
and were thus enabled to join the rebel army at 
Corinth, while about the same number were obliged 
to return to Chattanooga. 

20. At Decatur. The Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad crosses the Tennessee river at this point. 
The town is a dilapidated old concern, as ugly as 
Huntsville is handsome. 

There is a canebrake near the camp, and every sol- 
dier in the regiment has provided himself with a 
fishing-rod; very long, straight, beautiful rods they 
are, too. 

The white rebel, who has done his utmost to bring 
about the rebellion, is lionized, called a plucky fellow, 
a great man, Avhile the negro, who w^elcomes us, who 
is ready to peril his life to aid us, is kicked, cuffed, 
and driven back to his master, there to be scourged 
for his kindness to us. Billy, my servant, tells me 
that a colored man was Avhipped to death by a planter 
who lives near here, for giving information to our 
men. I do not doubt it. We worm out of these 
poor creatures a knowledge of the places where stores 
are secreted, or compel them to serve as guides, and 
then turn them out to be scourged or murdered. 
There must be a change in this regard before we shall 
be worthy of success. 

21. A detachment went to Somerville yesterday. 
While searching for buried arms forty-two hundred 
dollars, in gold, silver, and bank-notes, were found. 



j862.] or, memoirs OF A VOLUNTEER. 133 

The money is, undoubtedly, private property, and 
v/ill, I presume, be returned to the owner. 

Fine, large fish are caught in the Tennessee. We 
have a buffalo for supper — a good sort of fish — weigh- 
ing six pounds. 

General Mitchell has been made a Major-General. 
He is a deserving officer. No other man with so few 
troops has ventured so far into the enemy's country, and 
accomplished so much. Battles if they result favora- 
bly are great helps to the cause, but the general who 
"by a bold dash accomplishes equally imporant results, 
without loss of life, is entitled to as great praise cer- 
tainly as he who fights and wins a victory. 

Colonel Keifer and I have been on horseback most 
of the afternoon, examining all the roads leading from 
Decatur. On our way back to camp We called at Mr. 
Rather's. He was a member of the Alabama Senate, 
favored the secession movement, but claims now to be 
heartily sorry for it. He received us cordially; in- 
troduced us to to Mrs. Rather, brought in wine of his 
own manufacture, and urged us to drink heartily. 

23. A beautiful day has gone by and a beautiful 
starlit night has come. The camp is very still. 
The melody of the frog, if melody it can be called, 
and the ripple of the Tennessee, are the only sounds 
to be heard. Thoughts of home and the quiet even- 
ings; of youth and the gay visions; of the thousand 
and one pleasant scenes in life; of what we might 
have been and where we might have been, had the 
cards of our life been shuffled differently; of the 
deeds we might do, if perad venture the opportunity 



134 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

were offered, and the little we have done; all come 
up to-night, and we chew the cud over and over^ 
Avithout being able to determine Avhether it is bitter or 
sweet. 

The enemy, three hundred strong, made a dash on 
our picket last night, wounded one man, and made an 
unsuccessful eifort to retake a bridge. 

24. Our forces are on the alert. I lay down in my 
clothes last night, or rather this morning, for it was 
between one and two o^clock when I retired. The 
division is stretched over a hundred miles of railway, 
but in position to concentrate in a few hours. 

Before leaving this place, the rebels built a cotton 
fort, using in its construction probably five hundred 
bales. 

To-day we filled the bridge over the Tennessee with 
combustible material, and put it in condition to burn 
readily, in case we find it necessary to retire to the 
north side. 

A man with his son and two daughters arrived to- 
night from Chattanooga, having come all the way — 
one hundred and fifty miles probably — in a small 
skiff. 

25. Price, with ten thousand men, is reported ad- 
vancing from Memphis. Turchin had a skirmish 
with his advance guard near Tuscumbia. 

26. Turchin\s brigade returned from Tuscumbia 
and crossed the Tennessee. 

27. The Tenth and Third crossed to the north 
side of the river, and Lieutenant-Colonel Burke of 
the Tenth applied the torch to the bridge; in a few 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 135 

minutes the fire extended along its wliole length, and 
as we marched away, the flames were hissing among 
its timbers, and the smoke hung like a cloud above 
it. 

28. Ordered to move to Stevenson. Took a 
freight train and proceeded to Bellefonte, where we 
found a bridge had been burned ; leaving the cars we 
marched until twelve o'clock at night, and then 
bivouacked on the railroad track. 

29. Resumed the march at daylight ; one mile be- 
yond Stevenson we found the Ninth Brigade, Colonel 
Sill, in line of battle ; formed the Third in support 
of Loomis' Battery, and remained in this position un- 
til two in the afternoon, when General Mitchell ar- 
rived and ordered the Ninth Brigade, Loomis' Bat- 
tery and my regiment to move forward. At Widow's 
creek we met a detachment of the enemy; a few shots 
from the battery and a volley from our skirmish line 
drove it back, and we hastened on toward Bridgeport, 
exchanging shots occasionally with the enemy on the 
way. 

About five o'clock we formed in line of battle, on 
high ground in the woods, one-half mile from Bridge- 
port, the Third having the right of the column, and 
moved steadily forward until we came in sight of the 
town and the enemy. The order to double quick 
w^as then given, and we dashed into the village on a 
run. The enemy stood for a moment and then left as 
fast as legs could carry him ; in fact he departed in 
such haste that but few muskets and one shot from a 
six pound gun were fired at as; one piece of his ar- 



136 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

tillery was found still loaded. We captured fifty pris- 
oners, a number of horses, two pieces of artillery and 
many muskets. The bridge over the Tennessee had 
already been filled with combustible material, and 
when the rear of the rebel column passed over 
the match was applied ; the fire extended rapidly, and 
we found it impossible to proceed further. 

The fright of the enemy Avas so great that, after get- 
ting beyond the river a mile or more, he threw away 
over a thousand muskets, and abandoned every thing 
that could impede his flight. Unfortunately, however, 
before a raft could be constructed to convey our troops 
across the river, the rebels recovered from their panic, 
backed down a railroad train, and gathered up most 
of their arms and camp equipage. 

A little more coolness on the part of our troops 
would have enabled us to capture twenty-five or thirty 
cavalrymen, who came riding into Bridgeport, sup- 
posing it to be still in the hands of their friends. As 
they approached, a few scattering shots were fired at 
them by the excited soldiers, when they wheeled and 
succeeded in making their escape. 

30. The troops are short of provisions ; there is a 
grist mill near, but the owner claims that it is out of re- 
pair, and can not be put in running order for some 
days, as part of the machinery is missing. On inquiry, 
I found that the owner of the mill was a rebel, and 
that the missing machinery had probably been hidden 
by himself. I therefore said to him that if he did not 
have the mill going by noon, I would burn it down; 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 137 

by ten o'clock it was running, and at three in the af- 
ternoon we had an abundance of corn meal. 

A detachment of the Third under Colonel Keifer 
crossed the river and reconnoitered the country be- 
yond. It found no enemy, but returned to camp with 
an abundance of bacon — an article very greatly 
needed by our troops. 

Started at nine o'clock p. M. for Stevenson ; march- 
ed all night. Whenever we stopped on the way to 
rest, the boys would fall asleep on the roadside, and 
we found much difficulty in getting them through. 

12 



138 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 



MAY, 1862. 



1. Moved to Bellefoiite. 

2. Took the cars for Huntsville. 

At Paint Rock the train was fired upon, and six or 
eight men wounded. As soon as it coukl be done, I 
had the train stopped, and, taking a file of sokliers, 
returned to the viHage. The telegraph line had been 
cut, and the wire was lying in the street. Calling the 
citizens together, I said to them that this bushwhack- 
ing must cease. The Federal troops had tolerated it 
already too long. Hereafter every time the telegraph 
wire was cut we would burn a house; every time a 
train was fired upon Ave should hang a man ; and we 
would continue to do this until every house was 
burned and every man hanged between Decatur and 
Bridgeport. If they wanted to fight they should en- 
ter the army, meet us like honorable men, and not, 
assassin-like, fire at us from the woods and run. We 
proposed to hold the citizens responsible for these 
cowardly assaults, and if they did not drive these 
bushwhackers from amongst them, we should make 
them more uncomfortable than they would be in hell. 
I then set fire to the town, took three citizens with 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 139 

me, returned to the train, and proceeded to Hunts- 
ville. 

Paint Rock has long been a rendezvous for bush- 
whackers and bridge burners. One of the men 
taken is a notorious guerrilla, and was of the party 
that made the dash on our wagon train at Nashville. 

The week has been an active one. On last Satur- 
day night I slept a few hours on the bridge at De- 
catur. The next night I bivouacked in a cotton 
field; the next I lay from midnight until four in 
the morning on the railroad track ; the next I slept 
at Bridgeport on the soft side of a board, and on 
the return to Stevenson I did not sleep at all. My 
health is excellent. 

5. Captain Cunard was sent yesterday to Paint 
Pock to arrest certain parties suspected of burning 
bridges, tearing up the railroad track, and bushwhack- 
ing soldiers. To-day he returned with twenty-six 
prisoners. 

General Mitchell is well pleased with my action in 
the Paint Rock matter. The burnin": of the town 
has created a sensation, and is spoken of approvingly 
by the officers and enthusiastically by the men. It is 
the inauguration of the true policy, and the only one 
that will preserve us from constant annoyance. 

The General rode into our camp this evening, and 
made us a stirring speech, in which he dilated upon 
the rapidity of our movements and the invincibility 
of our division. 

8. The road to Shelbyville is unsafe for small 
parties. Guerrilla bands are very active. Two or 



140 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May. 

three of our supply trains have been captured and 
destroyed. Detachments are sent out every day to 
capture or disperse these citizen cut-throats. 

10. Have been appointed President of a Board of 
Administration for the post of Huntsville. After an 
ineffectual effort to get the members of the Board to- 
gether, I concluded to spend a day out of camp, the 
first for more than six months; so I strolled over to 
the hotel, took a bath, ate dinner, smoked, read, and 
slept until supper time, dispatched that meal, and 
returned to my quarters in the cool of the evening. 

We have in our camp a superabundance of ne- 
groes. One of these, a Georgian, belonged to a cap- 
tain of rebel cavalry, and fell into our hands at 
Bridgeport. Since that affair he has attached him- 
self to me. The other negroes I do not knoAv. In 
fact they are too numerous to mention. Whence 
they came or whither they are going it is impossible 
to say. They lie around contentedly, and are de- 
lighted when we give them an opportunity to serve 
us. All the colored people of Alabama are anxious 
to go " wid yer and wait on you folks.'' There are 
not fifty negroes in the South who would not risk 
their lives for freedom. The man who affirms that 
they are contented and happy, and do not desire to 
escape, is either a falsifier or a fool. 

11. Attended divine service with Captain Mc- 
Dougal at the Presbyterian Church. The edifice is 
very fine. The audience was small ; the sermon tol- 
erable. Troubles, the preacher said, were sent to 
discipline us. The army was of God ; they should, 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 141 

therefore, submit to it, not as slaves, but as Chris- 
tians, just as they submitted to other distasteful and 
calamitous dispensations. 

12. My letters from home have fallen into the 
hands of John Morgan. The envelopes were picked 
up in the road and forwarded to me. My wife should 
feel encouraged. It is not every body^s letters that 
are pounced upon at midnight, taken at the point of 
the bayonet, and read by the flickering light of the 
camp-fire. 

Moved at two o'clock this afternoon. Reached 
Athens after nightfall, and bivouacked on the Fair 
Ground. 

13. Marched to Elk river. A great many negroes 
from the neighboring plantations came to see us, among 
them an elderly colored man, whose sanctimonious 
bearing indicated that he was a minister of the Gos- 
pel. The boys insisted that he should preach to 
them, and, after some hesitation, the old man 
mounted a stump, lined a hymn from memory, sang 
it, and then commenced his discourse. He had not 
proceeded very far when he uttered this sentence : 
'^ De good Lord He hab called me to preach de Gos- 
pil. Many sinners hab been wakened by my poor 
words to de new life. De Lord He hab been very 
kind to me, an' I can nebber pay Him fur all He 
done fur me.*' 

" Never pay the Lord ?" broke in the boys ; ^^ never 
pay the Lord? Oh! you wicked nigger ! Just hear 
him ! He says he is never going to pay the Lord !" 

The preacher endeavored to explain : the kindness 



142 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 

and mercy of the Lord had been so great that it 
was impossible for a poor sinner to make any suffi- 
cient return; but the boys would accept no explana- 
tion. "Here/^ they shouted, ^'is a nigger who will 
not pay the Lord V' and they groaned and cried, " Oh ! 
Oh !'' and swore that they never saw so wicked a man 
before. Fortunately for the poor colored man, a 
Dutchman began to interrogate him in broken En- 
glish, and the two soon fell into a discussion of 
some point in theology, when the boys espoused the 
negro's side of the question, and insisted that the 
Dutchman w^as no match for him in argument. 
Finally, by groans and hisses, they compelled the 
Dutchman to abandon the controversy, leaving the 
colored man well pleased that he had vanquished his 
opponent and re-established himself in the good 
opinion of his hearers. 

14. Resumed the march at two o'clock in the 
morning, and proceeded to a point known as the 
Lower Ferry. Ascertaining here that the enemy had 
recrossed the Tennessee, and was pushing southward, 
we abandoned pursuit and turned to retrace our 
steps to Huntsville. Leaving the regiment in com- 
mand of Colonel Keifer, I accompanied General 
Mitchell on the return, and reached camp a little 
after dark. 

16. Appointed Provost Marshal of the city. 
Have been busy hearing all sorts of complaints, sign- 
ing passes for all sorts of persons, sending guards to 
this and that place in the city, and doing the numer- 
ous other things necessary to be done in a city under 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 143 

martial law. Captain Mitchell and Lieutenant Wil- 
son ai^e my assistants, and, in fact, do most of the 
work. The citizens say I am the youngest Gov- 
ernor they ever had. 

17. Captain Mitchell and I were invited to a 
strawberry supper at Judge Lane's. Found General 
Mitchell and staff, Colonel Kennett, Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Birdsall, and Captain Loomis, of the army, there. 
Mr. and Mrs. Judge Lane, Colonel and Major Davis, 
and a general, whose name I can not recall, were 
the only citizens present. General Mitchell monop- 
olized the conversation. He was determined to make 
all understand that he was the greatest of living sol- 
diers. Had iiis counsel prevailed, the Confederacy 
would have been knocked to pieces long ago. The 
evening was a very pleasant one. 

A few days ago we had John Morgan utterly anni- 
hilated; but he seems to have gathered up the dis- 
persed atoms and rebuilt himself. In the destruction 
of our supply trains he imagines, doubtless, that he is 
inflicting a great injury upon our division; but he is 
mistaken. The bread and meat we fail to get from 
the loyal States are made good to us from the smoke- 
houses and granaries of the disloyal. Our boys find 
Alabama hams better than Uncle Sam's sidemeat, 
and fresh bread better than hard crackers. So that 
every time this dashing cavalryman destroys a pro- 
vision train, their hearts are gladdened, and they shout 
"Bully for Morgan!" 

19. Rumor says that Richmond is in the hands of 
our troops; and from the same source we learn that 



144 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 

a large force of the enemy is between us and Nash- 
ville. Fifteen hundred mounted men were within 
seventeen miles of Huntsville yesterday. A regi- 
ment with four pieces of artillery, under command of 
Colonel Lytle, was sent toward Fayetteville to look 
after them. 

20. The busiest time in the Provost Marshal's 
office is between eight o'clock in the morning and 
noon. Then many persons apply for passes to go 
outside the lines and for guards to protect property. 
Others come to make complaints that houses have 
been broken open, or that horses, dogs, and negroes, 
have strayed away or been stolen. 

23. The men of Huntsville have settled down to 
a patient endurance of military rule. They say but 
little, and treat us with all politeness. The women, 
however, are outspoken in their hostility, and marvel- 
ously bitter. A flag of truce came in last night from 
Chattanooga, and the bearers were overwhelmed with 
visits and favors from the ladies. When they took 
supper at the Huntsville Hotel, the large dining- 
room was crowded with fair faces and bright eyes; 
but the men prudently held aloof. 

A day or two ago one of our Confederate prisoners 
died. The ladies filled the hearse to overflow^ing 
with flowers, and a large number of them accompa- 
nied the soldier to his last resting-place. 

The foolish, yet absolute, devotion of the women to 
the Southern cause does much to keep it alive. It 
encourages, nay forces, the young to enter the army, 
and compels them to continue what the more sensible 



t862.i OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 145 

Southerners know to be a hopeless struggle. But we 
must not judge these Huntsville women too harshly. 
Here are the families of many of the leading men of 
Alabama ; of generals, colonels, majors, captains, and 
lieutenants in the Confederate army; of men^ even, 
who hold cabinet positions at Richmond, and of 
many young men who are clerks in the departments 
of the rebel Government. Their wives, daughters, 
sisters, and sweethearts feel, doubtless, that the honor 
of these gentlemen, and possibly their lives, depend 
upon the success of the Confederacy, 

To-day two young negro men from Jackson county 
came in with their wives. They were newly married, 
and taking their wedding journey. The vision of a 
better and higher life had lured them from the old 
plantation where they were born. At midnight they 
had stolen quietly away, plodded many weary miles 
on foot, confident that the rainbow and the bag of 
gold Avere in the camp of the Federal army. 

25. This in-door life has made me ill. I am as 
yellow as an orange. The doctors say I have the 
jaundice. 
13 



146 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [June, 



JUNE, 1862 



3. Have requested General Mitchell to relieve me 
from duty as Provost Marshal; am now wholly unfit 
to do business. 

We have heard of the evacuation of Corinth. The 
simple withdrawal of the enemy amounts to but little, 
if anything ; he still lives, is organized and ready to 
do battle on some other field. 

5. Go home on sick leave. 

25. There Avere three little girls on the Louisville 
packet, about the age of my own children. They 
were great romps. I said to one, " what is your 
name?" She replied " Pudin' an' tame.'' So I called 
her Pudin', and she became very angry, so angry in- 
deed that she cried. The other little girls laughed 
heartily, and called her Pudin' also, and then asked 
my name. I answered John Smith ; they insisted 
then that Pudin' was my wife, and called her Pudin' 
Smith. This made Pudin' furious, and she abused her 
companions and me terribly; but John Smith in- 
vested a little money in cherries, and thus pacified 
Pudin', and so got to Louisville without getting his 
hair pulled. I saw no more of Pudin' until she got 
off the cars at Elizabethtown. Going up to her, we 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 147 

shook hands, and I said, "Good-by, Piidin\" She 
hung her head for a moment, and tried to look angry, 
but finally breaking into a laugh she said, " I don't 
like you at all any way, good-by.^' 

27. Reached Huntsville. The regiment in good 
condition, boys well ; weather hot. General Buell 
arrived last night. McCook's Division is here; Nel- 
son, Crittenden, and Wood on the road hither. 



148 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; U^ly, 



JULY, 1862, 



2. We know, or think we know, that a great bat- 
tle has been fought near Richmond, but the result for 
some reason is withheld. We speculate, talk, and 
compare notes, but this makes us only the more eager 
for definite information. 

I am almost as well as ever, not quite so strong, but 
a few days will make me right again. 

3. It is exceedingly dull ; we are resting as quietly 
and leisurely as we could at home. There are no 
drills, and no expeditions. The army is holding its 
breath in anxiety to hear from Richmond. If Mc- 
Clellan has been whipped, the country must in time 
know it; if successful, it would be rejoiced to hear it. 
Why, therefore, should the particulars, and even the 
result of the fighting, be suppressed. Rumor gives us 
a thousand conflicting stories of the battle, but rumor 
has many tongues and lies with all. 

General Mitchell departed for Washington yester- 
day. 

The rebels at Chattanooga claim that McClellan 
has been terribly whipped, and fired guns along their 
whole line, within hearing of our troops, in honor of 
the victory. 

A lieutenant of the Nineteenth Illinois, who fell 



i862] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 149 

into the enemy's hands, has just returned on parole, 
and claims to have seen a dispatch from the Adjutant- 
General of the Southern Confederacy, stating that 
McClellan had been defeated and his army cut to 
pieces. He believes it. 

My horse is as fat as a stall-fed ox. He has had a 
very easy time during my absence. 

To-morrow is the Fourth, hitherto glorious, but 
now, like to-day's meridian sun, clouded, and sending 
out a somewhat uncertain light. Has the great expe- 
riment failed? Shall we hail the Fourth as the birth- 
day of a great Nation, or weep over it as the 
beginning of a political enterprise which resulted in 
dissolution, anarchy and ruin ? Let us lift up our eyes 
and be hopeful. The dawn may be even now 
breaking. 

The boys propovse to have a barbecue to-morrow, 
and roast a corpulent, good-natured Ethiopian, named 
Csesar. They are now discussing the matter very 
voluminously, in Caesar's presence. He thinks they 
are probably joking; but still they seem to be greatly 
in earnest, and he knows little of these Yankees, and 
thinks maybe his "massa tole him de truff about dem, 
after all." ^'The Fourth is a great day," the boys go 
on to say, '^ whereon Yankees always dine on roast 
nigger. It is a part of their religion. It is this 
which makes colored folks so scarce in the North." 
Shall Csesar be stuffed or not? That is really the 
only question. One party claims that if Caesar be 
stuffed with vegetables and nicely roasted, he will be 
delicious. The other party insists that Caesar is suffi- 



150 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jilv, 

ciently stuffed already; vegetables would not improve 
him. They have eaten roast nigger both ways and 
know. So the discussion waxes hot, and the dusky 
Alabamian has some fear, even, that his last day may 
be drawing very near. 

4. Thirty-four guns were fired at noon. 

5. An Atlanta paper of the 1st instant says the 
Confederates have won a decisive victory at Rich- 
mond. No Northern papers have been allowed to 
come into camp. 

6. McCook moved toward Chattanooga. General 
AY. S. Smith has command of our division. 

The boys have a great many game chickens. Not 
long ago Company G, of the Third, and Company G, 
of the Tenth, had a rooster fight, the stakes being fif- 
teen dollars a side. After numerous attacks, retreats, 
charges, and counter-charges, the Tenth rooster suc- 
cumbed like a hero, and the other was carried in 
triumph from the field. General Mitchell made his 
appearance near the scene at the conclusion of the 
conflict ; but, supposing the crowd to be an enthu- 
siastic lot of soldiers who were cheering him, passed 
on, well pleased with them and himself 

The boys have a variety of information from Rich- 
mond to-day. One party affirms that McClellan has 
been cut to pieces ; that a dispatch to that effect has 
been received by General Buell. Another insists that 
he has obtained a decided advantage, and is heat- 
ing the shot to burn Richmond; while still an- 
other affirms that he has utterly destroyed Richmond, 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 151 

and, Marius-like, is sitting amid the ruins of that ill- 
fated city, eating sow belly and doe-christers. 
7. Am detailed to serve on court-martial. 

DETAIL FOR THE COURT. 

General James A. Garfield. 

Colonel Jacob Am men. 

Colonel Curren Pope. 

Colonel Jones. 

Colonel Marc Mundy. 

Colonel Sedgewick. 

Colonel John Beatty. 
Convened at Athens at ten o'clock this morning. 
Organized and adjourned to meet at ten to-morrow. 

General Buell proposes, I understand, to give Gen- 
eral Mitchell's administration of affiiirs in North Ala- 
bama a thorough overhauling. It is asserted that the 
latter has been interested in cotton speculations; but 
investigation, I am well satisfied, will show that 
General Mitchell has been strictly honest, and has 
done nothing to compromise his honor, or cast even 
the slightest shadow upon his good name. 

The first ease to be tried is that of Colonel J. B. 
Turchin, Nineteenth Illinois. He is charged with 
permitting his command, the Eighth Brigade, to 
steal, rob, and commit all manner of outrages. 

10. Our court has been adjourning from day to 
day, until Colonel Turchin should succeed in procur- 
ing counsel;, but it is now in full blast. 

Nelson's division is quartered here. The town is 
enveloped ^i^ a dense cloud of dust. 



152 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Julv, 

14. There are many wealthy planters in this sec- 
tion. One of the witnesses before our court has a 
cotton crop on hand worth sixty thousand dollars. 
Another swears that Turchin's brigade robbed him of 
twelve hundred dollars' worth of silver plate. 

Turchin's brigade has stolen a hundred thousand 
dollars' worth of watches, plate, and jewelry, in North- 
ern Alabama. Turchin has gone to one extreme, for 
war can not justify the gutting of private houses and 
the robbery of peaceable citizens, for the benefit of 
individual officers or soldiers; but there is another 
extreme, more amiable and pleasant to look upon, but 
not less fatal to the cause. Buell is likely to go to 
that. He is inaugurating the dancing-master policy: 
"By your leave, my dear sir, we will have a fight; 
that is, if you are sufficiently fortified ; no hurry ; 
take your own time." To the bushwhacker : " Am 
sorry you gentlemen fire at our trains from behind 
stumps, logs, and ditches. Had you not better cease 
this sort of warfare? Now do, my good fellows, stop, 
I beg of you." To the citizen rebel : " You are a 
chivalrous people ; you have been aggravated by the 
abolitionists into subscribing cotton to the Southern 
Confederacy ; you had, of course, a right to dispose 
of your own property to suit yourselves, but we prefer 
that vou would, in future, make no more subscrip- 
tions of that kind, and in the meantime we propose 
to protect your property and guard your negroes." 
Turchin's policy is bad enough; it may indeed be the 
policy of the devil ; but Buell's policy is that of the 
amiable idiot. There is a better policy than either. 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 153 

It will neither steal nor maraud ; it will do nothing 
for the sake of individual gain, and, on the other 
hand, it will not crouch to rebels; it will not fear to 
hurt the feelings of traitors ; it will not fritter away 
the army and the revenue of the Government in the 
insane effort to protect men who have forfeited all 
right to protection. The policy we need is one that 
will march boldly, defiantly, through the rebel States, 
indifferent as to whether this traitor's cotton is safe, 
or that traitor's negroes run away; calling things by 
their right names; crushing those who have aided 
and abetted treason, whether in the army or out. In 
short, we want an iron policy that will not tolerate 
treason; that will demand immediate and uncondi- 
tional obedience as the price of protection. 

15. The post at Murfreesboro, occupied by two 
regiments of infantry and one battery, under Critten- 
den, of Indiana, has surrendered to the enemy. A 
bridge and a portion of the railroad track between 
this place and Pulaski have been destroyed. A large 
rebel force is said to be north of the Tennessee. It 
crossed the river at Chattanooga. 

18. The star of the Confederacy appears to be ris- 
ing, and I doubt not it will continue to ascend until 
the rose-water policy now pursued by the Northern 
army is superseded by one more determined and vig- 
orous. We should look more to the interests of the 
North, and less to those of the South. We should 
visit on the aiders, abettors, and supporters of the 
Southern army somewhat of the severity which hith- 
erto has been aimed at that army only. Who are 



154 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; Julv, 

most deserving of our leniency, those who take arms 
and go to the field, or those who remain at home, 
raising corn, oats, and bacon to subsist them? Plain 
people, who know little of constitutional hair-split- 
ting, could decide this question only one way; but 
it seems those who have charge of our armies can not 
decide it in any sensible way. They say: *' You would 
not disturb peaceable citizens by levying contribu- 
tions from them?'^ Why not? If the husbands, 
brothers, and fathers of these people, their natural 
leaders and guardians, do not care for them, why 
should we ? If they disregard and trample upon that 
law which gave all protection, and plunge the country 
into war, why should we be perpetually hindered and 
thwarted in our efforts to secure peace by our care fo 
those whom they have abandoned? If we make th 
country through which we pass furnish supplies to 
our army, the inhabitants will have less to furnish 
our enemies. The surplus products of the country 
should be gathered into the Federal granaries, so that 
they could not, by possibility, go to feed the rebels. 
The loyal and innocent might occasionally and for the 
present suffer, but peace when once establshed would 
afford ample opportunity to investigate and repay 
these sufferers. Shall we continue to protect the 
property of our enemies, and lose the lives of our 
friends? It is said that it is hard to deprive men of 
their horses, cattle, grain, simply because they differ 
from us in opinion ; but is it not harder still to de-. 
prive men of their lives for the same reason? The 
opinions from which we differ in this instance are 



I862.I " OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 155 

treasonable. The man who, of his own free will, 
supplies the wood is no whit better than he who 
kindles the fire; and the man who supplies the am- 
munition neither better nor worse than he who does 
the killing. The severest punishment should be 
inflicted upon the soldier who appropriates either pri- 
vate or public property to his own use ; but the Gov- 
ernment should lay its mailed hand upon treasonable 
communities, and teach them that war is no holiday 
pastime. 

19. Returned to Huntsville this afternoon; Gen- 
eral Garfield with me. He will visit our quarters to- 
morrow and dine with us. 

General Rousseau has been assigned to the com- 
mand of our division. I am glad to hear that he 
^iscards the rose-water policy of General'Buell under 
his nose, and is a great deal more thorough and se- 
vere in his treatment of rebels than General jNlitchell. 
He sent the Rev. Mr. Ross to jail to-day for preach- 
ing a secession sermon last Sunday. He damns the 
rebel sympathizers, and says if the negro stands in the 
way of the Union he must get out. Rousseau is a 
Kentuckian, and it is very encouraging to learn that 
he talks as he does. 

Turchin has been made a brigadier. 

21. An order issued late last evening transferring 
our court from Athens to Huntsville. 

Colonel Turchin's case is still before us. No 
official notice of his promotion has been communi- 
cated to the court. 

23. Garfield and Ammen are our guests. They 



156 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

are sitting with Colonel Keifer, in the open air, in front 
of our tent. We have eaten supper, and Colonel Ara- 
men has the floor; he always has it. He is somewhat 
superstitious. He never likes to see the moon through 
brush. He is to some extent a believer in dreams. 
On one occasion he dreamed that his father, who was 
drowned, came up from the muddy water, looked 
angrily at him, and endeavored to stab him with a 
rusty knife. In his effort to escape he awoke. Fall- 
ing to sleep again, his father reappeared and made a 
second attempt to stab him. This so thoroughly 
aroused and troubled him that he could not sleep. In 
the morning he told this dream to a friend, and was 
informed that two members of his family would soon 
die. Soon after he was summoned home, when he 
found his mother dead and his sister dying of cholera. 
At another time he felt a sharp pain in the back of 
his neck, and was impressed with the idea that he had 
been shot. Soon afterward he learned that his 
brother in the South had been shot in the back of the 
neck and killed. He believes that his own sensation 
of pain was experienced at the very instant when his 
brother received the fatal wound; but as he could not 
remember the precise hour when he was startled by 
the disagreeable impression, he could not be positive 
that the occurrences were simultaneous. When going 
into battle at Greenbrier and at Shiloh, the belief that 
his time to die had not come rendered him cool and 
fearless. He never felt more at ease or more secure. 
So when, at two different times, he was very ill, and 



j862.] or, memoirs OF A VOLUNTEER. 157 

informed that he could not live through the night, he 
felt absolutely sure that he would recover. 

Garfield had a very impressionable relative. The 
night before his fight with Humphrey Marshall, she 
wrote a very accurate general description of the bat- 
tle, giving the position of the troops ; referring to the 
reinforcements which came up, and the great shout 
with which they were welcomed. 

These mysterious impressions suggested the exist- 
ence of an undiscovered, or possibly an undeveloped 
principle in nature, which time and investigation 
would ultimately make familiar. 

Colonel Ammen says, *^ If superstition, or a belief 
in the supernatural, is an indication of weakness, Na- 
poleon and Sir Walter Scott were the weakest of 
men." 

With General Garfield I called on General Rousseau 
this morning. He is a larger and handsomer man 
than Mitchell, but I think lacks the latter^s energy, 
culture, system, and industry. 

24. We can not boast of what is occurring in this 
department. The tide seems to have set against us 
everywhere. The week of battles before Richmond 
was a week of defeats. I trust the new policy indi- 
cated by the confiscation act, just passed by Congress, 
will have good effect. It will, at least, enable us to 
weaken the enemy, as we have not thus far done, and 
strengthen ourselves, as we have hitherto not been 
able to do. Slavery is the enemy's weak point, the 
key to his position. If we can tear down this insti- 
tution, the rebels will lose all interest in the Confed- 



158 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jul-.. 

eracy, and be too glad to escape with their lives, to be 
very particular about what they call their rights. 

Colonel Ammen has just received notice of his con- 
firmation as brigadier. He is a strange combination 
of simplicity and Avisdom, full of good stories, and 
tells those against himself with a great deal more 
pleasure than any others. 

Colonels Turchin, Mihalotzy, Gazley, and Captain 
Edgerton form a group by the Avindow ; all are smok- 
ing vigorously, and speculating probably on the result 
of the present and prospective trials. Mihalotzy is 
what is commonly termed '^ Dutch ;" but whether he 
is from the German States, Russia, Prussia, or Poland, 
I know not. 

Ammen left camp early this morning, saying he 
would go to town and see if he could find an idea, he 
Avas pretty nearly run out. Pie talks incessantly ; his 
narratives abound in episode, parenthesis, sAA'itches, 
side-cuts, and before he gets through, one aa^II con- 
clude a dozen times that he has forgotten the tale he 
entered upon, but he ncA^er does. 

Colonel Stanley, Eighteenth Ohio, has just come in. 
He has in his time been a grave and reverend senator 
of Ohio ; he never loses sight of this fact, and never 
fails to impress it upon those Avith Avhom he comes in 
contact. 

An order has just been issued, and is noAv being 
circulated among the members of the court, purport- 
ing to come from General Ammen, and signed Avith 
his name. It recites the fact of his promotion, and 
forbids any one hereafter to call him Uncle Jacob, 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 159 

that title being entirely too familiar and undignified 
for one of his rank. All who violate the order are 
threatened with the direst punishment. 

The General says if such orders please the court, 
he willnot object to their being issued; it certainly 
requires but very little ability to get them up. 

The General prides himself on what he calls deli- 
cate irony. He says, in the town of Ri^^ley, men who 
can not manage a dray successfully criticise the con- 
duct of this and that general with great severity; 
when they appeal to him, he tells them quietly he 
has not the capacity to judge of such matters ; it re- 
quires a great mind and a thorough understanding of 
all the circumstances. 

After all I have said about General Am men, it is 
hardly necessary to remark that he does most of the 
talking. 

To-day Garfield and Keifer, who of course enter- 
tain the kindliest feelings, and the greatest respect for 
the General, in a spirit of fun, entered into a conspir- 
acy against him. They proposed for one night to do 
all the talking themselves, and not allow him to edge 
in even a word. After supper Garfield was to com- 
mence with the earliest incidents of his childhood, and 
without allowing himself to be interrupted, continue 
until he had given a complete narrative of his life and 
adventures; then Keifer was to strike in and finish up 
the night. General Ammen was not to be permitted 
to open his mouth except to yawn. 

We ate supper and immediately adjourned to the 
adjoining tent. Before Garfield was fairly seated on 



160 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; []\JLV, 

his camp stool, he began to talk with the easy and de- 
liberate manner of a man who had much to say. 
He dwelt eloquently on the minutest details of his 
early life, as if they were matters of the utmost im- 
portance. Keifer was not only an attentive listener, 
but seemed wonderfully interested. Uncle Jacob un- 
dertook to thrust in a word here and there, but Gar- 
field was too much absorbed to notice him, and so 
pushed on steadily, warming up as he proceeded. 
Unfortunately for his scheme, however, before he had 
gone far he made a touching reference to his mother, 
when Uncle Jacob, gesticulating energetically, and 
Avith his forefinger leveled at the speaker, cried : 
^^Just a w^ord — -just one word right there,^^ and so 
persisted until Garfield was compelled either to yield 
or be absolutely discourteous. The General, there- 
fore, got in his word ; nay, he held the floor for the 
remainder of the evening. The conspirators made 
brave efforts to put him down and cut him off, but they 
w^ere unsuccessful. At midnight, when Keifer and I 
left, he was still talking; and after we had got into 
bed^ he, with his suspenders dangling about his legs, 
thrust his head into our tent-door, and favored us 
with the few observations we had lost by reason of 
our hasty departure. Keifer turned his face to the 
wall and groaned. Poor man ! he had been hoisted 
by his own petard. I think Uncle Jacob suspected 
that the young men had set up a job on him. 

The regiment went on a foraging expedition yester- 
day, under Colonel Keifer, and was some fifteen miles 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 161 

from Huntsville, in the direction of the Tennessee 
river. 

At one o'clock last night our picket was confronted 
by about one hundred and fifty of the enemy's cav- 
alry ; but no shots were exchanged. 

29. The rebel cavalry were riding in the mount- 
ains south of us last night. A heavy mounted patrol 
of our troops was making the rounds at midnight. 
There was some picket firing along toward morning; 
but nothing occurred of importance. 

Our forces are holding the great scope of country 
between Memphis and Bridgeport, guarding bridges, 
railroads, and towns, frittering away the strength of a 
great army, and wasting our men by permitting them 
to be picked up in detail. In short, we put down 
from fifty to one hundred, here and there, at points 
convenient to the enemy, as bait for them. They take 
the bait frequently, and always when they run no risk 
of being caught. The climate, and the insane effort 
to garrison the whole country, consumes our troops, 
and we make no progress. May the good Lord be 
with us, and deliver us from idleness and imbecility; 
and especially, O ! Lord, grant a little every-day 
sense — that very common sense which plain people 
use in the management of their business affairs — to 
the illustrious generals who have our armies in hand! 

30. We have just concluded Colonel Turchin's 
case, and forwarded the proceedings to General Buell. 

General Ammen for many years belonged to a club, 
the members of which were required either to sing a 
14 



162 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jily, 

song or tell a story. He could not sing, and, conse- 
quently, took to stories, and very few can tell one 
better. The General is a member of the Episcopal 
Church, and, although a pious man, emphasizes his 
language occasionally by an oath. When conducting 
his brigade from the boat at Pittsburg Landing to 
position on the field, he was compelled to pass through 
the immense crowd of skedaddlers who had sought 
shelter under the bluffs from the storm of bullets. A 
chaplain of one of the disorganized regiments was 
haranguing the mob in what may be termed the 
Avhangdoodle style : ^^ Rally, men ; rally, and we may 
yet be saved. O ! rally ! For God and your coun- 
try's sake rally ! K-a-1-l-y ! O-h ! r-a-1-l-y around 
the flag of your c-o-w-n-try, my c-o-w^n-tryme-n !" 
^^ Shut up, you God damned old fool !" said Ammen, 
" or I '11 break your head! Get out of the way!" 

General Garfield is lying on the lounge unwell. 
He has an attack of the jaundice, and will, I think, 
start home to-morrow. 

I find an article on the tables of the South, w^iich, 
with coffee, I like very much. The wheat dough is 
rolled very thin, cut in strips the width of a table- 
knife, and about as long, baked until well done ; if 
browned, all the better. They become crisp and 
brittle, and better than the best of crackers. 

31. General Ammen is so interesting to me that 
I can not avoid talking about him, especially when 
items are scarce, as they are now. Our court takes a 
recess at one, and assembles again at half-past three, 
giving us two hours and a half for dinner. To-day 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 163 

the conversation turned on the various grasses North 
and South. After the General had described the pe- 
culiar grasses of many sections, he drifted to the 
people South who lived on farms, where he had seen 
a variety of grass unknown in the North, and the 
following story was told : 

In the part of Mississippi where he resided for a 
number of years, there lived a Northern family 
named Greenfield. When he was there the farm was 
known as the Greenfield farm. It was the peculiar 
grass on this farm which suggested the story. The 
Greenfields were Quakers, originally from Philadel- 
phia. One of the wealthiest members of the family 
was a little weazen-faced old maid, of fifty years or 
more. Her overseer was a large, fine looking young 
man named Roacli. After he had been in her service 
a year she took a fancy to him, and proposed to give 
him twenty thousand dollars if he would marry her. 
He accepted, and they were duly married. A year 
after she grew tired of wedlock, and proposed to give 
thirty thousand dollars to be unmarried. He ac- 
cepted this proposition also. They united in a peti- 
tion for a divorce and obtained it. Koach took the 
fifty thousand dollars thus made and invested it in the 
Yazoo country. The property increased in value rap- 
idly, and he soon became a millionaire. When Gen- 
eral Ammen saw him, he had married again more to 
his liking, and was one of the prominent men in his 
section. 

The farm of the Gillyards lay near that of the 
Greenfields, and this suggested another story. A 



164 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER, U^lv, 

Miss Gillyard was a great heiress; owned plantations 
in Mississippi, and an interest in a large estate in 
South Carolina. A doctor of prepossessing appear- 
ance came from the latter State, and commenced 
practice in the neighborhood, and an acquaintance of 
a few months resulted in a marriage. After living to- 
gether a year very happily, they started on a visit to 
South Carolina ; she to visit relatives and look after 
her interest in the estate mentioned, and he to see his 
friends. On the way it was agreed that, he should 
attend to his wife's business, and so full power to sell 
or dispose of the property, or her interest therein, was 
given him. At Charleston she was met by the rela- 
tives with whom she was to remain, while the Doctor 
proceeded to a different part of the State to see his 
friends, and afterward attend to business. When 
about to separate, like a jolly soul, he proposed that 
they should drink to each other's health during the 
separation. The wine was produced; they touched 
glasses, and raised them to their lips, Avhen the door 
opened suddenly and the Doctor was called. Setting 
his wine on the table, he stepped out of the room, 
and the wife, more affectionate, possibly, than most 
women, took the glass which his lips had touched and 
put her own in its place. The husband reappeared 
shortly, and they drank off the wine. In an hour he 
was dead, and she in the deepest affliction. After she 
had recovered somewhat from the shock, she left 
Charleston to visit his people. She found them poor, 
and that he had a wife and three children. The truth 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 165 

then broke in upon her; he had drank the wine pre- 
pared for her. 

This story suggested one involving some of Miss 
Gillyard^s rekitions. 

Two lady cousins resided in the same town. The 
father of one had amassed a handsome fortune in the 
tailoring business. The father of the other had been 
a saddler, and, carrying on the business extensively, 
had also become wealthy. The descendant of the 
saddler would refer to her cousin's father as the 
tailor, and intimate that his calling was certainly not 
that of a gentleman. The other hearing of this, and 
meeting her one evening at a large party, said: 
"Cousin Julia, I hear that you have said my father 
was nothing but a tailor. Now, this is true ; he was 
a tailor, and a very good one, too. By his industry 
and judgment he made a large fortune, which I am 
enjoying. I respect him ; am grateful, and not 
ashamed of him, if he was a tailor. Your father was 
a saddler, and a very good one. He, by industry and 
good management, accumulated great wealth, which 
you are enjoying. I see no reason, therefore, why we 
should not both be proud of our fathers, and I cer- 
tainly can see no reason why a man-tailor should not 
be just as good as a horse-tailor. '' 



166 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 



AUGUST, 1862. 



1. The Judge- Advocate, Captain Swayne, was 
unwell this morning. The court, tlierefore, took 
a recess until three o'clock. Captain Edger- 
ton's case was disposed of last evening. Colonel 
Mihalotzy's will come before us to-day. A court- 
martial proceeds always with due respect to red tape. 
The questions to witnesses are written out; the 
answers are written down ; the statement of the ac- 
cused is in writing, and the defense of the accused's 
counsel is written ; so that the court snaps its fingers 
at time, as if it were of no consequence, and seven 
men, against whom there are no charges, are likely 
to spend their natural lives in investigating seven 
men, more or less, against whom there are charges. 
It is thus the rebels are being subjugated, the Union 
re-united, the Constitution and the laws enforced. 

3. Among the curiosities in camp are two young 
coons and a pet opossum. The latter is the prop- 
erty of Augustus Csesar, the esquire of Adjutant 
Wilson. Caesar restrains the opossum with a string, 
and looks forward with great pleasure to the time 
when he will be fat enough to eat. The coons are 
just now playing on the wild cherry tree in front 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 167 

of my tent, and several colored boys are watching 
tliem with great interest. One of these, a native 
Alabamian, tells me ^'de coon am a great fiter; he 
can wip a dog berry often ; but de possum can wip 
de coon, for he jist takes one holt on de coon, 
goes to sleep, an' nebber lets go; de coon he scratch 
an' bite, but de possum he nebber min'; he keeps 
his holt, shuts his eyes, and bimeby de coon he 
knocks under. De she coon am savager dan de he 
coon. I climbed a tree onct, an' de she coon come 
out ob her hole mitey savage, an' I leg go, an' 
tumbled down to de groun', and like ter busted my 
head. De she coon am berry savage. De possum 
can't run berry fast, but de coon can run faster 'n 
a dog. You can tote a possum, but you can 't tote 
a coon, he scratch an' bite so." 

The gentlemen of the South have a great fond- 
ness for jewelry, canes, cigars, and dogs. Out of 
forty white men thirty-nine, at least, will have canes, 
and on Sunday the fortieth will have one also. 
White men rarely work here. There are, it is true, 
tailors, merchants, saddlers, and jewelers, but the 
whites never drive teams, work in the fields, or en- 
gage in what may be termed rough work. 

Judging from the number of stores and present 
stocks, Huntsville, in the better times, does a heavier 
retail jewelry business than Cleveland or Columbus. 
Every planter, and every wealthy or even well-to-do 
man, has plate. Diamonds, rings, gold watches, 
chains, and bracelets are to be found in every family. 
The negroes buy large amounts of cheap jewelry, and 



168 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

the trade in this branch is enormous. One may walk 
a whole day in a Northern city without seeing a 
ruffled shirt. Here they are very common. 

The case of Colonel Mihalotzy was concluded 
to-day. 

5. General Ammen was a teacher for years at 
West Point, at Natchez, Mississippi, in Kentucky, 
Indiana, and recently at Ripley, Ohio. He has de- 
voted particular attention to the education of chil- 
dren, and has no confidence in the usual mode of 
teaching them. He labors to strengthen or cultivate, 
first: attention, and to this end never allows their in- 
terest in anything to flag; whenever he discovers that 
their minds have become weary of a subject, he take.«' 
the book from them and turns their 'thought in a ne\\ 
direction. Nor does he allow their attention to be 
divided between two or three objects at the same time. 
By his method they acquire the power to concentrate 
tlieir whole mind upon a given subject. The next 
thing to be cultivated is observation ; teach them to no- 
tice whatever may be around, and describe it. Whn,t 
did you see when you came up street? The child may 
answer a pig. What is a pig, how did it look, de- 
scribe it. Saw a man, did you? Was he large or 
small ? How was he dressed ? A room ? What is a 
room? Thus will they be taught to observe every- 
thing, and to talk about Avhat they observe, and learn 
not only to think but to express their thoughts. He 
often amuses them by what he terms opposites. To 
illustrate: He will say ^^ black,'' the child will an- 
swer *^ white." Long, short; good, bad; heavy, 



x862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 1G9 

light: dark, light. "What kind of light/' he will 
ask, ^^ is that kind which is the opposite of heavy ?'^ 
Here is a puzzle for them. Next in importance to 
observation, and to be strengthened at the same time, 
is the memory. They are required to learn little 
pieces; short stories perhaj^s, or songs that their 
minds can comprehend; not too long, for neither the 
memory nor the attention should be overtaxed. 

7. As General Ammen and I were returning to 
eamp this evening, we were joined by Colonel Fry, of 
General BuelPs staff, who informed us that General 
Robert McCook was murdered, near Winchester, yes- 
terday, by a small band of guerrillas. McCook was 
unwell, riding in an ambulance some distance in ad- 
vance of the column; while stopping in front of a 
farm-house to make some enquiry, the guerrillas made 
a sudden dash, the escort fled, and McCook was killed 
wdiile lying in the ambulance defenseless. When the 
Dutchmen of his old regiment learned of the unfor- 
tunate occurrence they became uncontrollable, and 
destroyed the buildings and property on five planta- 
tions near the scene of the murder. McCook had re- 
cently been promoted for gallantry at Mill Springs. 
He was a brave, bluff, talented man, and his loss will 
be sorely felt. 

Captain Mitchell started home in charge of a re- 
cruiting party this morning. I am anxious to fill the 
regiment to a thousand strong. 

8. General Ammen was at BuelFs quarters this 
evening, and ascertains that hot work is expected soon. 

15 



170 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

The enemy is concentrating a heavy force between 
Bridgeport and Chattanooga. 

The night is exceedingly beautiful; our camp lies 
at the foot of a low range of mountains called the 
Montesano ; the sky seems supported by them. A 
cavalry patrol is just coming down the road, on its 
return to camp, and the men are singing : 

•' An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain, 
Oh ! give me my lowly thatched cottage again ; 
The birds singing gayly, that came at my call, 
Give me them, with the peace of mind dearer than all. 
Home, home, sweet home, there is no place like home ; 
There is no place like home." 

9. I have sometimes wondered how unimportant 
occurences could suggest so much, but the faculty of 
association brings similar things before the mind, and 
a thousand collateral subjects as well. The band of 
the Tenth Ohio is playing. Where, and under what 
circumstances, have I heard other bands? The ques- 
tion carries my thoughts into half the States of the 
Union, into a multitude of places, into an innumer- 
able variety of scenes — faces, conversations, theatres, 
balls, speeches, songs — the chain is endless, and it 
might be followed for a lifetime. 

10. The enemy, a thousand strong, is said to be 
within five miles of us. One hundred and sixty-five 
men of the Third, under Mgjor Lawson, and five 
companies of cavalry, the whole commanded by Colo- 
nel Kennett, left at two o'clock to reconnoiter the 



x862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 171 

front; they will probably go to the river unless the 
enemy is met on the way. 

A negro came' in about four o'clock to report that 
the enemy's pickets were at his master's house, five 
miles from here, at the foot of the other slope of the 
mountain. He was such an ignorant fellow that his 
report was hardly intelligible. We sent him back, 
telling him to bring us more definite information. 
He was a field hand, bare-footed, horny-handed, and 
very black, but he knew all about "de mountings; 
dey can't kotch him nohow. If de sesesh am at 
Massa Bob's when I git back, I come to-night an' tell 
yer all." With these words, this poor proprietor of a 
dilapidated pair of pants and shirt, started over the 
mountains. What are his thoughts about the war, and 
its probable effects on his own fortunes, as he trudges 
along over the hills? Is it the desire for freedom, or 
the dislike for his overseer, that prompts him to run 
five miles of a Sunday to give this information? 
Possibly both. 

Csesar said to the Adjutant, "Massa Wilson, may 
I go to church?" "What do you want to go church 
for, Csesar?" "To hear de Gospel." One day Cfesar 
said to me, "Co'nel, you belongs to de meetin don't 
you?" " Why so, Caesar?" " Kase I nebber heard 
you swar any." 

To-day one of the pet coons got after a chicken. 
A young half-naked negro took after the coon ; and a 
long and crooked chase the chicken, coon, and negro 
had of it. 

12. At five o'clock the members of the court met 



172 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

to say good-by, and drink a dozen bottles of Scotch 
ale at General Ammen's expense. This was quite a 
spree for the General, and quite his own spree. It 
was a big thing, equal almost to the battle of "Shea- 
loh." They were pint bottles, and the General would 
persist in acting upon the theory that one bottle would 
fill all our glasses. Seeing the glasses empty he 
would call for another bottle, and say to us, ^^Gentle- 
men, I have ordered another bottle.^^ The General 
evidently drinks, when he imbibes at all, simply to be 
social, and a thimble-full would answer his purpose as 
well as a barrel. 

The court called on General Buell ; he is cold, 
smooth-toned, silent, the opposite of Nelson, who is 
ardent, loud-mouthed, and violent. 

17. Colonel Keifer has just received a telegram 
informing him that he has been appointed Colonel of 
the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio. I regret his de- 
parture too much to rejoice over his promotion. He 
has been a faithful officer, always prompt and cheer- 
ful; much better qualified to command the regiment 
than its Colonel. 

Watermelons, peaches, nectarines, are abundant. 
Peaches thrive better in this climate than apples. I 
have eaten almost the whole of a watermelon to-day, 
and am somewhat satiated. The melon had a cross 
(-{-) on the rind. I enquired of the negro who 
brought it in, what the mark meant, and he replied, 
"de patch war owned principally by a good many 
niggars, sah, an' dey dewided dem afore day got ripe, 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 173 

an' put de mark on de rine, to show dat de p'tic'lar 
melon belonged to a p'tic'lar niggar, sah." 

Governor Tod is damaging the old regiments by 
injudicious promotions. He does in some instances, 
it is true, reward faithful soldiers ; but often complain- 
ing, unwilling, incompetent fellows are promoted, who 
get upon the sick list to avoid duty ; lay upon their 
backs when they should be on their feet, and are ca- 
rousing when they should be asleep. On the march, 
instead of pushing along ' resolutely at the head of 
their command, they fall back and get into an ambu- 
lance. The troops have no confidence in them ; their 
presence renders a whole company worthless, and this 
company contributes greatly to the demoralization of 
a regiment. 

22. A little vine has crept into my tent and put 
out a handsome flower. 

General Buell and staff, with bag and baggage, left 
this morning. 

25. Ordered to move. 

29. We are at Decherd, Tennessee. I am weak, 
discouraged, and worn out with idleness. 

The negroes are busily engaged throwing up earth 
works and building stockades. To-night, as they 
were in line, I stopped a moment to hear the sergeant 
call the roll, ^^Scipio McDonald.'' "Here I is, sah,'' 
"Csesar—Csesar McDonald." "Caesar was 'sleep las' 
I saw ob him, sah." These negroes take the family 
name of their masters. 

The whole army is concentrated here, or near here; 
but nobody knows anything, except that the water is 



174 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

bad, whisky scarce, dust abundant, and the air loaded 
with the scent and melody of a thousand mules. 
These long-eared creatures give us every variety of 
sound of which they are capable, from the deep bass 
bray to the most attenuated Avhinny. 

The Thirty-third Ohio was shelled out of its fortifi- 
cations at Battle creek yesterday. Colonel Moore is 
in the adjoining tent, giving an account of his trials 
and tribulations to Shanks of the New York Herald. 

Fifty of the Third, under Lieutenant Carpenter, 
went to Stevenson yesterday ; on their return they were 
fired upon by guerrillas. Jack Boston shot a man and 
captured a horse. 



1862.3 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 175 



SEPTEMBER, 1862 



4. Army has fallen back to Murfreesboro. 

5. At Nashville. 

6. To-night we cross the Cumberland. 

7. Bivouacked in Edgefield, at the north end of 
the railroad bridge. Troops pouring over the bridge 
and pushing North rapidly. One of Loomis' men was 
shot dead last night while attempting to run by a sen- 
tinel. 

10. The moving army with its immense transpor- 
tation train, raises snch a cloud of dust that it is im- 
possible to see fifty yards ahead. 

11. Arrived at Bowling Green. The two armies 
are running a race for the Ohio river. At this time 
Bragg has the lead. 



176 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 



OCTOBEE, 1862. 



3. At Taylorsville, Kentucky. Our first day's 
march out of Louisville was disagreeable beyond pre- 
cedent. The boys had been full of whisky for three 
days, and fell out of the ranks by scores. The road 
for sixteen miles was lined with stragglers. The new 
men bore the march badly. Rain fell yesterday after- 
noon and during the night; I awoke at three o'clock 
this morning to find myself lying in a puddle of wa- 
ter. A soldier of Captain Rossman's company was 
wrestling with another^ and being thrown, died almost 
instantly from the effect of the fall. 

4. At Bloomfield. Shelled the rebels out of the 
woods in which Ave are now bivouacking, and picked 
up a few prisoners. The greater part of the rebel 
army is, we are told, at Bardstown — twelve miles 
away. 

5. Still at Bloomfield, in readiness to move at a 
moment's notice. 

7. Moved to Maxville, and bivouacked for the 
night. 

Perryville. 

8. Started in the early morning toward Perryville. 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 177 

The occasional boom of guns at the front notified us 
that the enemy was not far distant. A little later the 
rattle of musketry mingled with the roar of artillery, 
and we knew the vanguard was having lively work. 
The boys marched well and were in high spirits; the 
long-looked for battle appeared really near, and that 
old notion that the Third was fated never to see a 
fight seemed now likely to be exploded. At ten 
o'clock we were hastened forward and placed in battle 
line on the left of the Maxville and Perry ville road; 
the cavalry in our front appeared to be seriously en- 
gaged, and every eye peered eagerly through the 
woods to catch a glimpse of the enemy. But in a 
little while the firing ceased, and with a feeling of 
disappointment the boys lounged about on the ground 
and logs awaiting further 'orders. ' 

They came very soon. At 11 A. M. the Third was 
directed to take the head of the column and move 
forward. We anticipated no danger, for Kousseau and 
his staif were in advance of us, followed by Lytic 
and his staflP. The regiment was marching by the 
fliank, and had proceeded to the brow of the hill 
overlooking a branch of the Chaplin river, and was 
about to descend into the valley, when the enemy's ar- 
tillery opened in front with great fury. Rousseau and 
his staff wheeled suddenly out of the road to the left, 
accompanied by Lytic. After a moment spent by 
them in consultation, I was ordered to countermarch 
my regiment to the bottom of the hill we had just 
ascended, and file off to the right of the road. 

Loomis' and Simonson's Batteries were soon put in 



178 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

position, and began to reply to the enemy. A furious 
interchange of shell and solid shot occurred, but 
after a little while our batteries ceased firing, and we 
had comparative silence. 

About 2 o'clock the rebel infantry was seen advan- 
cing across the valley, and I ordered the Third to 
ascend the hill and take position on the crest. The en- 
emy's batteries now reopened with redoubled fury, and 
the air seemed filled with shot and exploding shells. 
Finding the rebels were still too far away to make our 
muskets effective, I ordered the boys to lie down and 
await their nearer approach. They advanced under 
cover of a house on the side hill, and having reached 
a point one hundred and fifty yards distant, deployed 
behind a stone fence which was hidden from us by 
standing corn. At this time the left of my regiment 
rested on the Maxville and Perryville road ; the line 
extending along the crest of the hill, and the right 
passing somewhat behind a barn filled with hay. In 
this position, with the enemy's batteries pouring upon 
us a most destructive fire, the Third arose and deliv- 
ered its first volley. For a time, I do not know how 
long thereafter, it seemed as if all hell had broken 
loose; the air was filled with hissing balls; shells 
were exploding continuously, and the noise of the 
guns was deafening ; finally the barn on the right took 
fire, and the flames bursting from roof, windows, doors, 
and interstices between the logs, threw the right of 
the regiment into disorder; the confusion, however, 
was but temporary. The boys closed up to the left, 
steadied themselves on the colors, and stood bravely 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 179 

to the work. Nearly two hundred of my five hun- 
dred men now lay dead and wounded on the little 
strip of ground over which we fought. 

Colonel Curren Pope, of the Fifteenth Kentucky, 
whose regiment was being held in reserve at the bot- 
tom of the hill, had already twice requested me to re- 
tire my men and allow him to take the position. Find- 
ing now that our ammunition was exhausted, I sent 
him notice, and as his regiment marched to the crest 
the Third was withdrawn in as perfect order, I think, 
as it ever moved from the drill-ground. The Fif- 
teenth made a gallant fight, and lost heavily both in 
officers and men ; in fact, the Lieutenant-Colonel and 
Major fell mortally wounded while it was moving into 
position. Colonel Pope was also wounded, but not so 
seriously as to prevent his continuing in command. 
The enemy getting now upon its right and rear, the 
regiment was compelled to retire from the crest. 

After consultation with Colonel Pope, it was deter- 
mined to move our regiments to the left, and form 
line perpendicular to the one originally taken, and 
thus give protection to the rear and right of the 
troops on our left. The enemy observing this move- 
ment, and accepting it as an indication of withdrawal, 
advanced rapidly toward us, when I about faced my 
regiment, and ordered the men to fix bayonets and 
move forward to meet him ; but before we had pro- 
ceeded many yards, I was overtaken by Lieutenant 
Grover, of Colonel Lytle's staff, with an order to retire. 

Turning into a ravine a few rods distant, we found 
an ammunition wagon, and, under a dropping fire 



180 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

from the enemy, refilled our empty cartridge boxes. 
Ascertaining while here that Colonel Lytle was cer- 
tainly woiindedj and probably killed, I reported at 
once for duty to Colonel Len. Harris, commanding 
Ninth Brigade of our division; but night soon there- 
after put an end to the engagement. 

We bivouacked in a corn-field. The regiment had 
grown suddenly small. It was a sorry night for us 
indeed. Every company had its long list of killed, 
Avounded, and missing. Over two hundred were 
gone. Nearly two hundred, we felt quite sure, had 
fallen dead or disabled on the field. ISIany eyes were 
in tears, and many hearts were bleeding for lost com- 
rades and dear friends. General Rousseau rides up 
in the darkness, and, as Ave gather around him, says, 
ill a voice tremulous with emotion : ^' Boys of the 
Third, you stood in that withering fire like men of 
iron.'' They did. 

They are thirsty and hungry. Few, however, think 
either of food or Avater. Their thoughts are on the 
crest of that little hill, Avhere Cunard, McDougal, St. 
John, Starr, and scores of others lie cold in death. 
They think of the Avounded and suffering, and speak 
to each other of the terrible ordeal through Avhich 
they have passed, with bated breath and in solemn 
tones, as if a laugh, or jest, or frivolous word, Avould 
be an insult to the slain. 

They haA^e long sought for a battle, and often been 
disappointed and sore because they failed to find one ; 
but now, for the first time, they really realize Avhat a 
battle is. They see it is to men AA^hat an arctic Vind 



1862.1 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 181 



is to autumn leaves, and are astonished to find 
that any have outlived the furious storm of deadly 
missiles. 

The enemy is in the woods before us, and as the 
sentinels occasionally exchange shots, we can see the 
flash of their guns and hear the whistle of bullets 
above our heads. The two armies are too near to 
sleep comfortably, or even safely, so the boys cling to 
their muskets and keep ready for action. It is a long 
night, but it finally comes to an end. 

9. The enemy has disappeared, and we go to the 
hill where our fight occurred. Within the compass 
of a few rods we find a hundred men of the Third 
and Fifteenth lying stiff and cold. Beside these there 
are many wounded, whom we pick up tenderly, carry 
off and provide for. Men are already digging 
trenches, and in a little while the dead are gathered 
together for interment. We have looked upon such 
scenes before ; but then the faces were strange to us. 
Now they are the familiar faces of intimate personal 
friends, to whom we are indebted for many kindly 
acts. We hear convulsive sobs, see eyes swollen and 
streaming with tears, and as our fallen comrades are 
deposited in their narrow grave, the lines of Wolfe 
recur to us : 

" No useless coffin inclosed his breast ; 

Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him, 
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
With his martial cloak around him. 
:}: >!c * * 



182 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

Slowly and sadly we laid him down 

From the field of his fame iresh and gory ; 

We carved not. a line, we raised not a stone, 
But left him alone with his glory." 

13. We are in a field near Harrodsburg. Moved 
yesterday from Perryville. We are without tents. 
Rain is falling, and the men uncomfortable. 

Many, perhaps most, of the boys of the regiment 
disliked me thoroughly. They thought me too 
strict, too rigid in the enforcement of orders; but 
now they are, without exception, my fast friends. 
During the battle of Chaplin Hills, while the ene- 
my's artillery was playing upon us with terrible eifect, 
I ordered them to lie down. The shot, shell, and 
canister came thick as hail, hissing, exploding, and 
tearing up the ground around us. There w^as a uni- 
versal cry from the boys that I should lie down also ; 
but I continued to walk up and down the line, watch- 
ing the approaching enemy, and replied to their en- 
treaties, '^ No ; it is my time to stand guard now^ and 
I will not lie down." 

Meeting Captain Loomis yesterday, he said: ^^Do 
you know you captured a regiment at Chaplin Hills?'' 
" I do not." " Yes, you captured the Third. You 
have not a man now who would n't die for you." 

I have been too much occupied of late to record 
even the most interesting and important events. I 
should like to preserve the names of the private sol- 
diers who behaved like heroes in the battle ; but I 
have only time to mention the fact that our colors 



t862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 183 

changed hands seven times during the engagement. 
Six of our color bearers were either killed or 
wounded, and as the sixth man was falling, a soldier of 
Company C, named David C. Walker, a boyish fellow, 
whose cheeks were ruddy as a girl's, and who had lost 
his hat in the fight, sprang forward, caught the fall- 
ing flag, then stepping out in front of the regiment, 
waved it triumphantly, and carried it to the end of 
the battle. 

On the next morning I made him color bearer, and 
undertook to thank him for his gallantry, but my 
eyes filled and voice choked, and I was unable to 
articulate a word. He understood me, doubtless. 

If it had not been for McCook^s foolish haste, it is 
more than probable that Bragg would have been 
most thoroughly whipped and utterly routed. As it 
was, two or three divisions had to contend for half a 
day with one of the largest and best disciplined of 
the Confederate armies, and that, too, when our 
troops in force were lying but a few miles in the rear, 
ready and eager to be led into the engagement. The 
whole aifair is a mystery to me. McCook is, doubt- 
less, to blame for being hasty; but may not Buell be 
censurable for being slow ? And may it not be true 
that this butchery of men has resulted from the petty 
jeolousies existing between the commanders of differ- 
ent army corps and divisions? 

19. Encamped in a broken, hilly field, five miles 
south of Crab Orchard. From Perry ville to this 
place, there has been each day occasional cannonad- 
ing ; but this morning I have heard no guns. The 



184 THE CITIEZN SOLDIER; [October, 

Cumberland mountains are in sight. We are pushing 
forward as fast probably as it is possible for a great 
army to move. Buell is here superintending the 
movement. 

24. In the woods near Lebanon, and still without 
tents. Bragg has left Kentucky, and is thought to 
be hastening toward Kashville. We shall follow him^ 
Having now twice traveled the road, the march is 
likely to prove tedious and uninteresting. The army 
has been marching almost constantly for two months, 
and bivouacking at night with an insufficiency of 
clothing. 

The troops are lying in an immense grove of large 
beech. We have had supper, and a very good one^ 
by the way: pickled salmon, currant jelly, fried ham, 
butter, coffee, and crackers. It is now long after 
nightfall, and the forest is aglow with a thousand 
campfires. The hum of ten thousand voices strikes 
the ear like the roar of a distant sea. A band away 
off to the right is mingling its music with the noise, 
and a mule now and then breaks in with a voice not 
governed by any rules of melody known to man. 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 185 



NOVEMBER, 1862 



9. In camp at Sinking Spring, Kentucky. 
Thomas commands the Fourteenth Army Corps, 
consisting of Rousseau's, Palmer's, Dumont's, Neg- 
ley's, and Fry's divisions; say 40,000 men. Mc- 
Cook has Sill's, Jeff C. Davis', and Granger's; 
say 24,000. Crittenden has three divisions, say 
24,000. A large army, which ought to sweep to Mo- 
bile without difficulty. 

Sinking Spring, as it is called by some. Mill Spring 
by others, and by still others Lost river, is quite a 
large stream. It rises from the ground, runs forty 
rods or more, enters a cave, and is lost. The wreck 
of an old mill stands on its banks. Bowling Green 
is three miles southward. 

When we get a little further south, we shall find at 
this season of the year persimmons and opossums in 
abundance. Jack says: ^'Possum am better dan 
chicken. In de fall we hunt de possum ebbery night 
'cept Sunday. He am mitey good an' fat, sah ; some- 
times he too fat." 

We move at ten o'clock to-morrow. 

11. We have settled down at Mitchellville for a 
16 



186 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 

few days. After dinner Furay and I rode six miles 
beyond this, on the road to Nashville, to the house of 
a Union farmer whose acquaintance I made last 
spring. The old gentleman was very glad to see us, 
and insisted upon our remaining until after supper. 
In fact, he urged us to stay all night; but we con- 
sented to remain for supper only, and would not allow 
him to put our horses in the stable. 

We learned that a little over a week ago the rebels en- 
deavored to enforce the conscription law in this neigh- 
borhood, and one of Mr. Baily's sons was notified to 
appear at Gallatin to enter the Southern army. He 
was informed that if he did not appear voluntarily at 
the appointed time, he would be taken, either dead or 
alive. He did not go, and since has been constantly 
on the watch, expecting the guerrilla bands, which ren- 
dezvous at Tyree Springs, ten miles distant, to come for 
the purpose of taking him away. When, therefore, he 
saw Furay and me galloping up to the house, he 
mounted his horse and rode for the woods as fast as his 
steed could carry him. After we had been there half 
an hour, he returned, and, while shaking hands with us, 
said : "You scared me out of a full year's growth." 

Morgan, with a force, the strength of which is va- 
riously estimated, passed near this a few days ago. 
Many of Mr. Baily's neighbors are members of the 
guerrilla bands, and all of them willing spies and in- 
formers. 

We had a splendid supper: chicken, pork, ham, 
milk, pumpkin pie ; in short, there was every thing 
on the table that a hungry man could desire. 



I862.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 187 

I had introduced Mr. Furay as the correspondent 
of the Cincinnati Gazette ; but the good folks, not un- 
derstanding this long title exactly, dubbed him Doctor. 
There were three strapping girls in the family, who 
did not make their appearance until they had taken 
time to put on their Sunday clothes. To one of these 
the Doctor paid special attention, and finally won his 
way so far into her good favor as to induce her to 
play him a tune on the dulcimer, an abominable in- 
strument, which she pounded with two little sticks. 
The Doctor declared that the music was good — excel- 
lent — charming. He now attempts to get out of this 
outrageous falsehood by affirming that he referred 
simply to the air — the tune — and not to the manner 
in which it was executed by the young lady. This, 
however, is a mere quibble. 

It was quite dark when we said good-by to this 
kind-hearted, excellent family, and started on our 
way back to camp. The woods were on fire for miles 
along the road. Many fences and farm buildings had 
caught. One large house tumbled in as we were 
passing, and the fences, out-buildings, and trees were 
all enveloped in flames. While riding slowly for- 
ward, and looking back upon the dense cloud of 
smoke, the flames stretching as far almost as the eye 
could reach, the dry trees standing up like immense 
pillars of fire, we were startled not a little by the sen- 
tinel's challenge, "Halt!" There had been no pick- 
ets on the road when ^^ were going out, and we were, 
therefore, uncertain whether the challenge came from 
our own men or those of John Morgan. "Who 



188 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 

comes there?'' continued the sentinel. ^^ Friends.'^ 
"Advance friends, and give the countersign.^' Going 
up to the sentinel, I told him who we were, and that 
we had not the countersign. After a little delay, the 
officer of the guard came and allowed us to proceed. 

12. To-day farmer Baily came to see us. I sent 
his good wife a haversack of coffee, to remunerate her 
somewhat for the excellent dinner she had given us. 
He urged us to come again, and said they would 
have a turkey prepared for us this afternoon ; but I 
declined with thanks. 

15. At eight o'clock to-morrow morning we shall 
move to Tyree Springs, a little village situated in the 
heart of a wild, broken tract of country, which, of 
late, has been a favorite rendezvous for guerrillas and 
highwaymen. Citizens and soldiers traveling to and 
from Nashville, during the last two months, have, at 
or near this place, been compelled to empty their 
pockets, and when their clothes were better than 
those of their captors, have been compelled to spare 
them also. 

We have no certain information as to the enemy's 
whereabouts. One rumor says he is at Lavergne, an- 
other locates him at Murfreesboro, and still another 
puts him at Chattanooga. General Rosecrans is now 
in command, and, urged on by the desires of the North, 
may follow him to the latter place this winter. A 
man from whom the people are each day expecting 
some extraordinary action, sor#e tremendous battle, in 
which the enemy shall be annihilated, is unfortunately 
situated, and likely very soon to become unpopular. 



I862.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 189 

It takes two to make a fight, as it does to make a 
bargain. General John Pope is the only warrior of 
modern times who can fihd a . battle whenever he 
wants to, and take any number of j)risoners his heart 
desires. Even his brilliant achievements, however, 
afford the people but temporary satisfaction, for, upon 
investigation, they are unable to find either the cap-' 
tives or the discomfited hosts. 

I predict that in twelve months Rosecrans will be 
as unpopular as Buell. After the affair at Rich 
mountain, the former was a great favorite. When 
placed in command of the forces in Western Virginia, 
the people expected hourly to hear of Floyd^s destruc- 
tion ; but after a whole summer was spent in the vain 
endeavor to chase down the enemv and briup; him 
to battle, they began to abuse Rosecrans, and he 
finally left that department, much as Buell has left 
this. Our generals should, undoubtedly, do more, 
but our people should certainly expect less. 

19. At Tyree Springs. Am the presiding officer 
of a court-martial. 

The supplies for the great army at Nashville and 
beyond, are wagoned over this road from Mitchellville 
to Edgefield Junction. Immense trains are passing 
continually. 

20. General Bob Mitchell dined with me to-day. 
lie is on the Avay to Nashville. Blows his own 
trumpet, as of old, and expects that a division will be 
given him. * 

30. This is a delightful Indian summer day. I 
have been in the forest, under the persimmon and 



190 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 

butternut trees. It is the first ramble I have had at 
this season for years, and I thought of the many 
quiet places in the thick woods of the old homestead, 
where long ago I hunted for hickory-nuts and wal- 
nuts; then of its hazel thickets, through which were 
scattered the wild plum, black-haw, and thorn- 
apple — perfect solitudes, in which the squirrels and 
birds had the happiest of times. How pleasant it is 
to recur to those days ; and how well I remember 
every path through the dense woods, and every little 
open grassy plot, made brilliant by the summer sun- 
shine. 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 191 



DECEMBER, 1862. 



2. We move to-morrow, at six o^clock in the 
morning, to Nashville. 

9. Nashville. Every thing indicates an early move- 
ment. Whether a reconnoissance is intended or a per- 
manent advance, I do not even undertake to guess. 
The capture of a brigade, at Hartsville, by John 
Morgan, has awakened the army into something like 
life; before it was idly awaiting the rise of the Cum- 
berland, but this bold dash of the rebels has made it 
bristle up like an angry boar ; and this morning, I am 
told, it starts out to show its tusks to the enemy. 
Our division has been ordered to be in readiness. 

The kind of weather we desire now, is that which 
is generally considered the most disagreeable, namely, 
a long rain ; two weeks of rain-fall is necessary to 
make the Cumberland navigable, and thus ensure to 
us abundant supplies. 

The whole army feels deeply mortified over the loss 
of the brigade at Hartsville ; report says it was cap- 
tured by an inferior force. One of our regiments did 
not fire a gun, and certainly the other two could not 
have made a very obstinate resistance. I am glad 



192 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Decembrr, 

Ohio does not have to bear the whole blame; two- 
thirds is rather too much. 

10. During all of the latter part of last night 
troops were pouring through Nashville, and going 
southward. Our division, Rousseau's, moved three 
miles beyond the city, and Avent into camp on the 
Franklin road. 

14. Our court has been holding its sessions in the 
city, but to-day it adjourned to meet at division head- 
quarters to-morroAV at ten o'clock A. M. 

The most interesting character of our court-martial 
is Colonel H. C. Hobart, of the Twenty-first Wiscon- 
sin ; a gentleman Avho has held many important pub- 
lic positions in his ow^n State, and whose knowledge of 
the law, fondness for debate, obstinacy in the mainte- 
nance of his opinions, love of fun, and kind-hearted- 
ness, are immense. He makes use of the phrase, ^' in my 
country," when he refers to any thing which has taken 
place in Wisconsin ; from this we infer that he is a 
foreigner, and pretend to regard him as a savage from 
the great West. He has, therefore, been dubbed Chief 
of the Wisconsins. The court occasionally becomes 
exceedingly mellow of an evening, and then the favor- 
ite theme is the ^^ injin." Such horrible practices as 
dog eating and cannibalism are imputed to the Chief. 
To-night we visited the theater to witness Ingomar. 
On returning to our room at Bassay's restaurant, the 
members took solemn- Irish oaths that the man with 
the sheep-skin on his back, purporting to be Ingomar, 
was no other than Hobart, the Wisconsin savage ; 
and the supposition that such an individual could ever 



1862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 193 

reform, and become fitted for civilized society, was a 
monstrous fiction, too improbable even for the stage. 

It should not be presumed from this, however, that 
the subject of our raillery holds his tongue all the 
time. On the contrary, he expresses the liveliest con- 
tempt for the opinions of his colleagues of the court- 
martial, and professes to think if it were not for the 
aid which the Nation receives from his countrymen, 
the Wisconsins, the effort to restore the Union would 
be an utter failure. 

Bassay's restaurant is a famous resort for military 
gentlemen. Major-General Hamilton just now took 
dinner ; Major-General Lew Wallace, Brigadier-Gen- 
erals Tyler and Schoepf, and Major Donn Piatt oc- 
cupy rooms on the floor above us, and take their meals 
here ; so that we move in the vicinity of the most 
illustrious of men. We are hardly prepared now to 
say that we are on intimate terms with the gentlemen 
who bear these historic names; but we are at least 
allowed to look at them from a respectful distance. 
A few years hence, when they are so far away as to 
make contradiction improbable, if not impossible, we 
may claim to have been their boon companions, and 
to have drank and played whist with them in the 
most genial and friendly way. 

16. This afternoon Negley sent over a request for 
help, stating that his forage train had been attacked. 
The alarm, however, proved groundless. A few shots 
only had been fired at the foragers. 

17. The news from Fredericksburg has cast a 
17 



194 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; {Decembeu, 

shadow over tlie army. We did hope that Burnside 
would be successful, and thus brighten the prospect 
for a speedy peace ; but w^e are in deeper gloom now 
than ever. The repulse at Fredericksburg, while it 
has disabled thousands, has disheartened, if not de- 
moralized a great army, atid given confidence and 
strength to the rebels every-where. It may be, how- 
ever, that this defeat was necessary to bring us clearly 
to the point of extinguishing slavery in all the States. 
The time is near when the strength of the President's 
resolution in this regard will be put to the test. I 
trust he Avill be firm. The mere reconstruction of the 
Union on the old basis would not pay humanity for 
all the blood shed since the w^ar began. The extinc- 
tion of slavery, perhaps, will. 

While the North raises immense numbers of men, 
and scatters them to the four wdnds, the enemy con- 
centrates, fortifies, and awaits attack. Will the man 
ever come to consolidate these innumerable detach- 
ments of the National army, and then sweep through 
the Confederacy like a tornado ? 

It is said that many regiments in the Eastern army 
number less than one hundred men, and yet have a 
full complement of field and company officers. This 
is ridiculous ; nay, it is an outrage upon the tax-pay- 
ers of the North. Worse still, so long as such a skel- 
eton is called a regiment, it is likely to bring discredit 
upon the State and Nation; for how can it perform the 
work of a regiment when it has but one-tenth of a 
regiment's strength ? These regiments should be con- 



1862.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 195 

solidated, and the superfluous officers either sent home 
or put into the ranks. 

20. This morning, at one o'clock, we were or- 
dered to hokl ourselves in readiness to march at a 
moment's notice, with five days' rations. Court has 
adjourned to meet at nine o'clock A. M. Monday. It 
is disposing of cases quite rapidly, and I think next 
week, if there be no interruptions, it Avill be able to 
clear the docket. 

A brigade, which went out with a forage train yes- 
terday, captured a Confederate lieutenant at a private 
house. He was engaged at the moment of his cap- 
ture in writing a letter to his sweetheart. The letter 
was headed Nashville, and he was evidently intent 
upon deceiving his lady-love into the belief that he 
had penetrated the Yankee lines, and was surrounded 
by foes. Had the letter reached her fair hands, what 
earnest prayers would have gone up for the succor of 
this bold and reckless youth. 

There was a meeting of the generals yesterday, but 
for what purpose they only know. 

21. The dispatches from Indianapolis speak of the 
probable promotion of Colonel Jones, Forty-second 
Indiana. This seems like a joke to those who know 
him. He can not manage a regiment, and not even 
his best friends have any confidence in his military 
capacity. In Indiana, however, they promote every 
body to brigadierships. Sol Meredith, who went into 
the service long after the war began, and who, in 
drilling his regiment, would say : ^'Battalion, right or 
left face, as the case may be, march," was made a 



196 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

brigadier some time ago. Milroy, Crittenden, and 
many others Avere promoted for inconsiderable serv- 
ices in engagements which have long since been 
forgotten by the pnblic. Their promotions were 
not made for the benefit of the service, but for the 
political advancement of the men who caused them 
to be made. 

Last evening, a little after dark, we were startled 
by heavy cannonading on our left, and thought the 
enemy was making an attack. The boys in our di- 
vision were all aglow with excitement, and cheered 
loudly; but after ten or fifteen minutes the firing 
ceased, and I have heard no more about it. 

The rebels are before us in force. The old game 
of concentration is probably being played. The re- 
pulse of our army at Fredericksburg will embolden 
them. It will also enable them to spare troops to 
reinforce Bragg. The Confederates are on the inside 
of the circle, while we are on the outside, scattered 
far and wide. They can cut across and concentrate 
rapidly, while we must move around. They can meet 
Burnside at Fredericksburg, and then w^hip across the 
country and face us, thus making a smaller army than 
ours outnumber us in every battle. 

In the South the army makes public opinion, and 
moves along unaffected by it. In the North the army 
has little or nothing to do with the creation of public 
sentiment, and yet is its servant. The people of the 
North, who were clamoring for action, are probably 
responsible for the fatal repulse at Fredericksburg 
and the defeat at Bull run. The North must be pa- 



1862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 197 

tient, and get to understand that the work before us 
is not one that can be accomplished in a day or 
month. It should be pushed deliberately, yet persist- 
ently. We should get rid of a vast number of men 
who are forever in hospital. They are an expense to 
the country, and an incumbrance to the army. We 
should consolidate regiments, and send home thou- 
sands of unnecessary officers, who draw pay and yet 
make no adequate return for it. 

23. The court met this morning as usual. W^e 
are now going on the fifth week of the session. New 
cases arise just about as fast as old ones are dis- 
posed of. 

The boys in front of my tent are singing: 

" We are going home, we are going home, 
To die no more." 

Were they to devote as much time to praying as 
they do to singing, they would soon establish a repu- 
tation for piety ; but, unfortunately for them, after 
the hymn they generally proceed to swear, instead of 
prayer, and one is left in doubt as to what home they 
propose to go to. 

25. About noon there were several discharges of 
artillery in our front, and last night occasional shots 
served as cheerful reminders that the enemy was 
near. 

At an expense of one dollar and seventy-five cents, 
I procured a small turkey and had a Christmas dinner; 
but it lacked the collaterals, and was a failure. 

For twenty months now I have been a sojourner in 



198 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; December, 

camps^ a dweller in tents, going hither and yon, at all 
hours of the day and night, in all sorts of weather, 
sleeping for weeks at a stretch without shelter, and 
yet I have been strong and healthy. How very thank- 
ful I should feel on this Christmas night! There 
goes the boom of a cannon at the front. 

26. This morning we started south on the Frank- 
lin road. "When some ten miles aAvay from Nashville, 
we turned toward Murfreesboro, and are now en- 
camped in the woods, near the head-waters of the 
Little Harpeth. The march was exceedingly un- 
pleasant. Rain began to fall about the time of start- 
ing, and continued to pour down heavily for four 
hours, wetting us all thoroughly. 

I have command of the brigade. 

27. We moved at eiglit o'clock this morning, over 
a very bad dirt road, from Wilson's pike to the Xo- 
lansville road, where we are now bivouacking. 
About ten the artillery commenced thundering in our 
front, and continued during tlie greater portion of the 
day. Marched two miles toward Triune to support 
McCook, who was having a little bout with the en- 
emy; but the engagement ending, we returned to our 

..present quarters in a drenching rain. Saw General 
Thomas, our corps commander, going to and return- 
ing from the front. We are sixteen miles from Nash- 
ville, on a road running midw^ay between Franklin 
and Murfreesboro. The enemy is supposed to be in 
force at the latter place. 

28. At four o'clock p. M. we were ordered to leave 
baggage and teams behind, and march to Stewart's 



i862.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 199 

creek, a point twenty miles from Nashville. Night 
had set in before the brigade got fairly under way. 
The road runs through a barren, hilly, pine district, 
and was exceedingly bad. At eleven o'clock at night 
we reached the place indicated, and lay on the damp 
ground until morning. 

29. At eight o'clock A. m. the artillery opened in 
our front; but after perhaps two hours of irregular 
firinsr, it ceased altoo^ether, and we were led to the 
conclusion that but few rebels were in this vicinity, 
the main body being at Murfreesboro, probably. 
Going to the front about ten o'clock, I met General 
Hascall. He had had a little fight at Lavergne, the 
Twenty-sixth Ohio losing twenty men, and his brigade 
thirty altogether. He also had a skirmish at this 
place, in which he captured a few prisoners. Saw 
General Thomas riding to the front. Rosecrans is 
here, and most of the Army of the Cumberland either 
here or hereabouts. McCook's corps had an incon- 
siderable engagement at Triune on Saturday. Loss 
small on both sides. 

Riding by a farm-house this afternoon, I caught a 
glimpse of Miss Harris, of Lavergne, at the window, 
and stopped to talk with her a minute. The young 
lady and her mother have experienced a great deal of 
trouble recently. They were shelled out of Lavergne 
three times, two of the shells passing through her 
mother's house. She claims to have been shot at once 
by a soldier of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Il- 
linois, the ball sj)lintering the window-sill near her 
head. Her mother's house has been converted into a 



200 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

hospital, and the clothes of the family taken for 
bandages. She is, therefore, more rebellious now 
than ever. She is getting her rights, poor 
girl! 

oO. A little after daylight the brigade moved, and 
proceeded to Avithin three miles of Murfreesboro, 
Avhere we have been awaiting orders since ten o'clock 
A. M. 

The first boom of artillery was heard at ten o'clock. 
Since then there has been almost a continuous roar. 
McCook's corps is in advance of us, perhaps a mile 
and a half, and, with divisions from other corps, 
has been gradually approaching the enemy all day, 
driving his skirmishers from one point to an- 
other. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon the artillery fir- 
ing became more vigorous, and, with Colonel Fore- 
man, of the Fifteenth Kentucky, I rode to the front, 
and then along our advanced line from right to left. 
Our artillery stationed on the higher points was being 
fired rapidly. The skirmishers were advancing cau- 
tiously, and the contest between the two lines was 
quite exciting. As I supposed, our army is feeling 
its way into position. To-morrow, doubtless, the 
grand battle will be fought, when I trust the good 
Lord will grant us a glorious victory, and one that 
will make glad the hearts of all loyal people on New- 
Year's Day. 

I saw Lieutenant-Colonel Given, Eighteenth Ohio. 
Twelve of his men had been wounded. Met Colonel 
AVagner, Fifteenth Indiana. Starkweather's brigade 



i862.] 



r)K, MKMOIKS OF A VOJJJNTKKR. 201 



lost its wagon train this forenoon. Jeff C. Davis^ I 
am told, was wounded this evening. A shell ex- 
ploded near a group, eonsisting of* (ien(;ral ]{ose- 
erans and stall", killing two hors(;s and wounding 
two men. 

STONE JtlVER. 

*>1. At six o'eloek in the morning my brigade 
marches to the front and forms in line of battle. The 
roar of njusk(!try and artillery is incessant. At nine 
o'eh)ek we move into the cedar woods on the right to 
support MeCook, who is reported to be giving way. 
General Rousseau points me to the place he desires me 
to defend, and enjoins me to 'Miold it until hell freezes 
over,'' at the same time telling me that he may be 
found immediately on the left of my l)rigude with 
Loomis' battery. I take position. An open wood is 
in my front; but where the line is formed, and to the 
right and left, the cedar thicket is so dense as to ren- 
der it impossible to see the length of a regiment. 
The enemy comes up directly, and the fight begins. 
The roai: of the guns to the right, left, and front 
of my brigade sounds like the continuous pounding 
on a thousand anvils. My men are favorably situ- 
ated, being concealed by the cedars, while the enemy, 
advancing through the open woods, is fully ex])Osed. 
Early in the action Colonel Foreman, of the Fif- 
teenth Kentucky, is killed, and his regiment retires 
in disorder. The Third Ohio, Eighty-eighth, and 
Forty-second Indiana, hold the position, and deliver 



202 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

their fire so effectively that the enemy is finally fi)rced 
back. I find a Michigan regiment and attach it to 
my command, and send a staif officer to General 
Rousseau to report progress ; but befi)re he has time 
to return, the enemy makes another and more furi- 
ous assault upon my line. After a fierce struggle, 
lasting from forty to sixty minutes, we succeed in re- 
pelling this also. I send again to General Rousseau, 
and am soon after informed that neither he nor 
Loomis' battery can ])e found. Troops are reported 
to be falling back hastily, and in disorder, on my left. 
I send a staff officer to the right, and ascertain that 
Scribner's and Shepperd's brigades are gone. I con- 
clude that the contingency has arisen to which 
General Rousseau referred — that is to say, that hell 
has frozen over — and about face my brigade and 
march to the rear, where the guns appear to be 
hammering away Avith redoubled fury. In the edge 
of the woods, and not far from the Murfreesboro 
pike, I find the new line of battle, and take po- 
sition. Five minutes after the enemy strike us. For a 
time — I can not even guess how long — the line stands 
bravely to the work ; but the regiments on our left 
get into disorder, and finally become panic-stricken. 
The fright spreads, and my brigade sweeps by me to 
the open field in our rear. I hasten to the colors, 
stop them, and endeavor to rally the men. The field 
is by this time covered with flying troops, and the 
enemy's fire is most deadly. My brigade, however, 
begins to steady itself on the colors, when my horse 



i862.] 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 203 



is shot under me, and I fall heavily to the ground. 
Before I have time to recover my feet, my troops, 
with thousands of others, sweep in disorder to the 
rear, and I am left standing alone. Going back to 
the railroad, I find my men, General Rousseau, 
Loomis, and, in fact, the larger part of the army. 
The artillery has been concentrated at this point, and 
now opens upon the advancing columns of the en- 
emy with fearful effect, and continues its thunders 
until nightfall. The artillery saved the army. The 
battle during the whole day was terrific. 

I find that soon after the fight began in the 
cedars, our division was ordered back to a new line, 
and that the order had been delivered to Scribner 
and Shepperd, but not to me. They had, conse- 
quently, retired to the second position under fire, and 
had suffered most terribly in the operation ; while 
my brigade, being forgotten ])y the division com- 
mander, or by the officer whose duty it was to convey 
the order, had held its ground until it had twice re- 
pulsed the enemy, and then changed position in com- 
parative safety. A retrograde movement under fire 
must necessarily be extremely hazardous. It demor- 
alizes your own men, who can not, at the moment, 
understand the purpose of the movement, while it 
encourages the enemy. The one accepts it as an 
indication of defeat; the other as an assurance of 
victory. 

McCook had been surprised and shattered in 
the morning. This unexpected success had inspired 



204 THE CITIZEN VOLUNTEER; [December, 

the rebels and dispirited us. They fought like 
devils, and the victory — if victory there was to 
either army — belonged to them. 

When the sun went down, and the firing ceased, 
the Union army, despondent, but not despairing, 
Aveary and hungry, but still hopeful, lay on its 
arms, ready to renew the conflict on the morrow. 



i853.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 205 



JANUARY, 1863 



1. At dawn we are all in line, expecting every 
moment the re-commencement of the fearful straggle. 
Occasionally a battery engages a battery opposite, and 
the skirmishers keep up a continual roar of small 
arms; but until nearly night there is no heavy 
fighting. Both armies want rest; both have suffered 
terribly. Here and there little parties are engaged 
burying the dead, which lie thick around us. Now 
the mangled remains of a poor boy of the Third is 
being deposited in a shallow grave. A whole charge 
of canister seems to have gone through him. Gen- 
erals Rosecrans and Thomas are riding over the field, 
now halting to speak words of encouragement to the 
troops, then going on to inspect portions of the line. 
I have been supplied with a new horse, but one far 
inferior to the dead stallion. A little before sundown 
all hell seems to break loose again, and for about an 
hour the thunder of the artillery and volleys of mus- 
ketry are deafening; but it is simply the evening 
salutation of the combatants. The darkness deepens; 
the weather is raw and disagreeable. Fifty thousand 
hungry men are stretched beside their guns again on 
the field. Fortunately I have a piece of raw pork 



206 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [January, 

and a few crackers in my pocket. Ko food ever 
tasted sweeter. The night is gloomy enough ; but 
our spirits are rising. We all glory in the obstinacy 
with which Rosecrans has clung to his position. I 
draw closer to the camp-fire, and, pushing the brands 
together, take out my little Bible, and as I open it 
my eyes fall on the xci Psalm : 

^'I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my 
fortress, my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He 
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and 
from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee 
with His feathers, and under His wings shall be thy 
trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor 
for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence 
that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that 
wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall by thy 
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it 
shall not come nigh thee.^^ 

Camp-fires innumerable are glimmering in the 
darkness. Now and then a few mounted men gal- 
lop by. Scattering shots are heard along the picket 
line. The gloom has lifted, and I wrap myself in 
my blanket and lie down contentedly for the night. 

2. At sunrise we have a shower of solid shot and 
shell. The Chicago Board of Trade battery is si- 
lenced. The shot roll up the Murfreesboro pike like 
balls on a bowling alley. Many horses are killed. 
A soldier near me, while walking deliberately to the 
rear, to seek a place of greater safety, is struck be- 
tween the shoulders by a ricochetting ball, and in- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 207 

stantly killed. We are ordered to be in readiness to 
repel an attack, and form line of battle amid this 
fearful storm of iron. Gaunther and Loomis get 
their batteries in position, and, after twenty or thirty 
minutes^ active work, silence the enemy and compel 
him to withdraw. Then we have a lull until one or 
two o'clock, when Van Cleve^s division on the left is 
attacked. As the volume of musketry increases, and 
the sound grows nearer, we understand that our 
troops are being driven back, and brigade after 
brigade double quicks from the right and center, across 
the open field, to render aid. Battery after battery 
goes in the same direction on the run, the drivers 
lashing the horses to their utmost speed. The thun- 
der of the guns becomes more violent ; the volleys of 
musketry grow into one prolonged and unceasing roll. 
Now we hear the yell w^iich betokens encouraged 
hearts ; but whose yell ? Thank God, it is ours ! The 
conflict is working southward ; the enemy has been 
checked, repulsed, and is now in retreat. So ends 
another day. 

The hungry soldiers cut steaks from the slain 
horses, and, with the scanty supplies which have come 
forward, gather around the fires to prepare supper, 
and talk over the incidents of the day. The prospect 
seems brighter. We have held the ground, and in 
this last encounter have whipped the enemy. There 
is more cheerful conversation among the men 
They discuss the battle, the officers, and each other, 
and give us now and then a snatch of song. Officers 
come over from adjoining brigades, hoping to find a 



208 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; fjANUARY, 

little whisky, but learn, witli apparent resignation and 
well-feignecl composure, that the canteens have been 
long empty; that even the private flasks, which 
officers carry with the photographs of their sweet- 
hearts, in a side pocket next to their hearts, are desti- 
tute of even the flavor of this article of prime 
necessity. My much-esteemed colleague of the court- 
martial, Colonel Hobart, stumbles up in the thick 
darkness to pay his respects. The sentinel, mistaking 
him for a private, tells him, with an oath, that this is 
neither the time nor place for stragglers, and orders 
him back to his regiment; and so the night wears 
on, and fifty thousand men lay upon their guns again. 
3. Colonel Shanklin, with a strong detachment 
from my brigade, was caj^tured last night while on 
picket. Rifle pits are being dug, and I am ordered 
to protect the workmen. The rebels hold a strip of 
woods in our immediate front, and we get up a lively 
skirmish with them. Our men, however, appear loth 
to advance far enough to afford the necessary protec- 
tion to tlie Avorkers. Vexed at their unwillingness to 
venture out, I ride forward and start over a line to 
which I desire the skirmishers to advance, and dis- 
cover, before I have gone twenty yards, that I have 
done a foolish thing. A hundred muskets open on 
me from the woods ; but the eyes of my own brigade 
and of other troops are on me, and I can not back 
out. I quicken the pace of my horse somewhat, and 
continue my perilous course. The bullets whistle like 
bees about my head, but I ride the whole length of 
the proposed skirmish line, and get back to the 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 209 

brigade in safety. Colonel Hnmplirey, of the Eighty- 
eighth Indiana, comes up to me, and with a tremor 
in his voice, which indicates much feeling, says: " My 
God, Colonel, never do that again !^' The caution if, 
unnecessary. I had already made up my mind never 
to do it again. We keep up a vigorous skirmish with 
the enemy for hours, losing now and then a man ; 
but later in the day w^e are relieved from this duty, 
and retire to a quieter place. 

About nightfall General Rousseau desires me to 
get two regiments in readiness, and, as soon as it 
becomes quite dark, charge upon and clean out the 
woods in our front. I select the Third Ohio and 
Eighty-eighth Indiana for this duty, and at the ap- 
pointed time we form line in the open field in front 
of Gaunther's battery, and as we start, the battery 
commences to shell the woods. As we get nearer the 
objective point, I put the men on the double quick. 
The rebels, discovering our approach, open a heavy 
fire, but in the darkness shoot too high. The blaze 
of their guns reveals their exact position to us. AYe 
reach the rude log breastworks behind' which they 
are standing and grapple with them. Colonel 
Humphrey receives a severe thrust from a bayonet; 
others are wounded, and some killed. It is pitch 
dark under the trees. Some of Gaunther's shells fall 
short, and alarm the men. Unable to find either staff 
officer or orderly, I ride back and request him to ele- 
vate his guns. Returning, I find my troops blazing 
away with great energy ; but, so far as I can discover, 
18 



210 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [January, 

their fire is not returned. It is difficult, however, in 
the noise, confusion, and darkness, to direct their 
movements, and impossible to stop the firing. In 
the meantime a new danger threatens. Spear's Ten- 
nesseeans have been sent to support us, probably 
without any definite instructions. They are, most of 
them, raw troops, and, becoming either excited or 
alarmed at the terrible racket in the woods, deliver 
scattering shots in our rear. I ride back and urge 
them either to cease firing or move to the left, go for- 
ward and look after our flank. One regiment does 
move as directed; but the others are immovable, and 
it is with great difficulty that I succeed in making 
them understand that in firing they are more likely to 
injure friends than foes. Fortunately, soon after this, 
the ammunition of the Third and Eighty-eighth be- 
coming exhausted, the firing in the woods ceases, and. 
as the enemy has already abandoned the field, the 
affiiir ends. I try to find General Rousseau to report 
results, but can not ; and so, worn out Avith fatigue 
and excitement, lie down for another night. 

4. Every thing quiet in our front. It is reported 
that the enemy has disappeared. Investigation con- 
firms the report, and the cavalry push into Murfrees- 
boro and beyond. 

During the forenoon the army crosses Stone River, 
and with music, banners, and rejoicings, takes posses- 
sion of the old camps of the enemy. So the long and 
doubtful struggle ends. 

5. I ride over the battle-field. In one place a 
caisson and five horses are lying, the latter killed in 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER " 211 

harness, and all fallen together. Nationals and Con- 
federates, young, middle-aged, and old, are scattered 
over the woods and fields for miles. Poor Wright, of 
my old company, lay at the barricade in the woods 
which we stormed on the night of the last day. 
Many others lay about him. Further on we find 
men with their legs shot off; one with brains scooped 
out with a cannon ball; another with half a face 
gone ; another with entrails protruding ; young 
Winnegard, of the Third, has one foot off and both 
legs pierced by grape at the thighs; another boy lies 
with his hands clasped above his head, indicating that 
his last words were a prayer. Many Confederate 
sharpshooters lay behind stumps, rails, and logs, shot 
in the head. A young boy, dressed in the Confed- 
erate uniform, lies with his face turned to the sky, 
and looks as if he might be sleeping. Poor boy ! 
what thoughts of home, mother, death, and eternity, 
commingled in his brain as the life-blood ebbed away! 
Many wounded horses are limping over the field. 
One mule, I heard of, had a leg blown off on the 
first day's battle ; next morning it was on the spot 
where first wounded ; at night it was still standing 
there, not having moved an inch all day, patiently 
suffering, it knew not why nor for what. How many 
poor men moaned through the cold nights in the 
thick woods, where the first day^s battle occurred, 
calling in vain to man for help, and finally making 
their last solemn petition to God! 

In the evening I met Rousseau, McCook, and Crit- 
tenden. They had been imbibing freely. Rousseau 



212 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [January, 

insisted upon my turning back and going with them 
toj his quarters. Crittenden was the merriest of 
the party. On the way he sang, in a voice flir 
from melodious, a pastorial ditty Avith which chikl- 
hood is familiar : 

" Mary had a little lamb, 

His fleece was white as snow, 
And every-where that Mary went 
The lamb was sure to go." 

Evidently the lion had left the chieftain's heart, 
and the lamb had entered and taken possession. 

McCook complimented me by saying that my 
brigade fought Avell. He should know, for he sat be- 
hind it at the commencement of the second assault of 
the enemy in the cedars, on the first day; but very 
f^^on thereafter disappeared. Just when he left, and 
why he did so, I do not know. 

At Rousseau's we found a large number of staff and 
line officers. The demijohn was introduced, and all 
paid their respects to it. The ludicrous incidents, of 
which there are more or less even in battles, of the 
last five days, were referred to, and much merriment 
prevailed. 

6. The army is being reorganized, and we are 
busily engaged repairing the damages sustained in the 
battle. 

Visited the hospitals, and, so far as possible, looked 
after the wounded of my brigade. To-morrow the 
chaplains will endeavor to hunt them all up, and re- 
port their whereabouts and condition. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 213 

7. I was called upon late in the evening to make 
a report of the operations of my brigade immedi- 
ately, as General Rousseau intends to leave for Louis- 
ville in the morning. It is impossible to collect the in- 
formation necessary in the short time allowed me. One 
of my regimental commanders, Colonel Foreman, was 
killed; another. Colonel Humphrey, was wounded, and 
is in hospital ; another, Lieutenant-Colonel Shanklin, 
was captured, and is absent; but I gathered up hastily 
what facts I could obtain as to the casualties in the 
several regiments, and wrote my report in the few 
minutes which remained for me to do so, and sent it 
in. I have not had an opportunity to do justice 
either to my brigade or myself. 

13. Move in the direction of Columbia, on a 
reconnoitering expedition. My brigade stops at Sa- 
lem, and the cavalry pushes on. 

14. Have been exposed to a drenching rain for 
thirty hours. Th^ men are cold, hungry, and mu- 
tinous. 

15. Ordered back to Murfreesboro, and march 
thither in a storm of snow and sleet. It is decidedly 
the coldest day we have experienced since last winter. 

I fiiKl two numbers of Harper's Weekly on my re- 
turn. They abound in war stories. The two heroes, 
of whom I read to-night, received saber cuts on the 
face and head, obtained leave of absence, returned 
home, and married forthwith. Saber cuts are very 
rare in the Army of the Cumberlajid, and if young 
officers were compelled to defer entering into wedlock 
until they got wounds of this kind, there would be 



"214 THK. (.Ml'lZKN SOl.niKR: Uanvary. 

prooious l*o\v soUliors nuirriod. l>iillot wounds nro 
ooininon enough; but tho lKUul-to-h:uul oucountiMs, 
kni^luly oonti>sts ot' swords, tho t'h^iving oi' hoad- 
piooos and shattering' ot' spoars, arc not inoiihMits ot* 
uuhUm'u wartaiv. 

Tho h>ng- rain has ooniph^toly saturated the i^ronnd. 
The tU)or ot' my tent is nuuhly ; but my bed will be 
drv, and as 1 have not had my ehnhes oil' tor three 
days, I look Ibrward to a et>mrortabh^ night's rest. 

The pieture in Harper, vd' " ('hristmas Kve," will 
bring tears to the eyes ot' many a poor iellow shiver- 
ing over the eamp-lire in this winter seas^m. The 
ehildren in the erib, the stoekings in whieh Santa. 
Claus dei)osits his treasures, ret-all the pleasantest 
night of the year. 

Speaking ot' Christmas reminds me of the nnstletoe 
bough. ^listletoe abounds here. Old, leatless trees 
are eovered and green with it. It was in blossom a 
week or two ago, if we may eall its white wax-like 
berries blossoms. They are known as Christmas 
blossoms. The vine takes root in the bark — in any 
craek, hole, or ereviee of the tree — and eontinues 
green all winter. The berries grow in elusters. 

1(>. I have as guests ^Ir. and Mrs. Johnson 
House, my old neighbors. They have come from 
their quiet home in Ohio to look over a battle-iield, 
and I take pleasure in showing them the points of in- 
terest. Mr. House, with great frankness, tells me, in 
the presenee oi^ my stafl', that he had been afraid I 
was not qualitied for the high position I hold, and 
that I was getting along too fast ; but he now feels 



iS/>3-] OK, MKMOIKS OF A VOIJ;ntEER. 21 O 

satisfied tliat 1 am capable and worthy, and would be 
well pJeaned to .see rne again promoted. J introduced 
my friends to Lieutenant Van Pelt, of J.ooniis' bat- 
tery, and Mr. House asked: ^^ Lieutenant, will these 
guns shoot with any kind of decision?^' "Precision,^' 
I suggested. ^' Yes,'' Van Pelt replied, " they will 
throw a ball pretty *lose to the mark." 

17. Dr. Peck tells me that the wounded of the 
Third are doing well, and all comfortably quartered. 
He is an excellent physician and surgeon, and the 
boys are well pleased with him. 



216 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Febrcary, 



FEBRUARY, 1863. 



3. This has been the cohlest day of the season in 
this latitude. The ground is frozen hard. I made 
the round of the picket line after dinner, and was 
thoroughly chilled. Visited the hospital this even- 
ing. Young Willets, of the Third, Avhom I thought 
getting along well before I left for home, died two 
days before my return. Benedict is dead, and Glenn, 
poor fellow, will go next. His leg is in a sling, and 
he is compelled to lie in one position all the time. 
Mortification has set in, and he can not last more than 
a day or two. Murfreesboro is one great hospital, 
filled with Nationals and Confederates. 

4. At noon cannonading began on our left and 
front, and continued with intervals until sunset. I 
have heard no explanation of the firing, but think it 
probable our troops started up the Shelby ville road to 
reconnoiter, discovered the enemy, and a small fight 
ensued. 

5. It is said the enemy came within six miles of 
Murfreesboro yesterday, and attacked a forage train. 

The weather has been somewhat undecided, and far 
from agreeable. 

6. A lot of rebel papers, dated January 31st, have 



i863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 217 

been brought in. They contain many extracts clipped 
from the Northern Democratic press, and the South- 
ern soul is jubilant over the fact that a large party in 
Ohio and Indiana denounce President Lincoln. The 
rebels infer from this that the war must end soon, and 
the independence of the Southern States be acknowl- 
edged. Our friends at home should not give aid and 
comfort to the enemy. They may excite hopes which, 
in time, they will themselves be compelled to help 
crush. 

7. Few of the men who started home when I did 
have returned. The General is becoming excited on 
the subject of absentees. From General Thomas^ 
corps alone there are sixteen thousand men absent, 
sick, pretending to be sick, or otherwise. Of my 
brigade there are sixteen hundred men present for 
duty, and over thirteen hundred absent — nearly one- 
half away. The condition of other brigades is simi- 
lar. If a man once gets away, either into hospital or 
on detached duty, it is almost impossible to get him 
back again to his regiment. A false excuse, backed 
up by the false statement of a family physician, has 
hitherto been accepted ; but hereafter, I am told, it 
will not be. Uncle Sam can not much longer stand 
the drain upon his finances which these malingerers 
occasion, and his reputation suffers also, for he can 
not do with fifty thousand men what it requires one 
hundred thousand to accomplish. 

People may say Rosecrans had at the battle of 
Murfreesboro nearly one hundred regiments. A reg- 
19 



218 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Februarv, 

imeiit should contain a thousand men; in a hundred 
regiments, therefore, there shoukl have been one hun- 
dred thousand men. With this force he should have 
swallowed Bragg; but they must understand that the 
largest of these regiments did not contain over five 
hundred men fit for duty, and very many not over 
three hundred. The men in hospital, the skulkers at 
home, and the skedaddlers here, count only on the 
muster and pay-rolls; our friends at home should re- 
member, therefore, that when they take a soldier by 
the hand who should be with his regiment, and say to 
him, " Poor fellow, you have seen hard times enough, 
stay a little longer, the army will not miss you,^' that 
some other poor fellow, too brave and manly to shirk, 
shivers through the long winter hours at his own post, 
and then through other long hours at the post of 
the absentee, thus doing double duty ; and they 
should bear in mind, also, that in battle this same 
poor fellow has to fight for two, and that battles are 
lost, the war prolonged, and the National arms often 
disgraced, by reason of the absence of the men whom 
they encourage to remain at home a day or two 
longer. If every Northern soldier able to do duty 
would do it, Kosecrans could sweep to Mobile in 
ninety days ; but with this skeleton of an army, we 
rest in doubt and idleness. There is a scrcAV loose 
somewhere. 

10. Fortifications are being constructed. My men 
are working on them. 

Just now I heard the whistle of a locomotive, on 
the opposite side of the river. This is the first inti- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 219 

mation we have had of the completion of the road to 
this point. The bridge will be finished in a day or 
two, and then the trains will arrive and depart from 
Murfreesboro regularly. 

11. Called at Colonel Wilder's quarters, and while 
there met General J. J. Reynolds. He made a brief 
allusion to the Stalnaker times. On my return to 
camp, I stopped for a few minutes at Department 
head-quarters to see Garfield. General Rosecrans 
came into the room ; but, as I was dressed in citizens' 
clothes, did not at first recognize me. Garfield said : 
^^ General Eosecrans, Colonel Beatty." The General 
took me by the hand, turned my face to the light, and 
said he did not have a fair view of me before. 
"Well,'Mie continued, '^ you are a general now, are 
you V' I told him I was not sure yet, and he said : 
" Is it uncertainty or modesty that makes you doubt?" 
^' Uncertainty." " Well," he replied, " you and Sam 
Beatty have both been recommended. I guess it will 
be all right." He invited me to remain for supper, 
but I declined. 

16. To-day I rode over the battle-field, starting 
at the river and following the enemy's line oif to their 
left, then crossing over on to the right of our line, 
and following it to the left. For miles through the 
woods evidences of the terrible conflict meet one at 
every step. Trees peppered with bullet and buckshot, 
and now and then one cut down by cannon ball; 
unexploded shell, solid shot, dead horses, broken 
caissons, haversacks, old shoes, hats, fragments of 
muskets, and unused cartridges, are to be seen every- 



220 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; tFEBr.LARV, 

where. In an open space in the oak woods is a long 
strip of fresh earth, in which forty-one sticks are 
standing, with intervals between them of perhaps a 
foot. Here forty-one poor fellows lie under the fresh 
earth, with nothing but the forty-one little sticks 
above to mark the spot. Just beyond this are twenty- 
five sticks, to indicate the last resting-23lace of twenty- 
five brave men ; and so we found these graves in the 
Avoods, meadows, corn-fields, cotton-fields, every- 
where. We stumbled on one grave in a solitary spot 
in the thick cedars, where the sunshine never pene- 
trates. At the head of the little mound of fresh 
earth a round stick was standing, and on the top of 
this was an old felt hat; the hat still doing duty over 
the head, if not on the head, of the dead soldier who 
lay there. The rain and sun and growing vegetation 
of one summer will render it impossible to find these 
graves. The grass will cover the fresh earth, the 
sticks will either rot or become displaced, and then 
there will be nothing to indicate that — 

" Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; 
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre." 

17. The army is turning its attention to politics 
somewhat. Generals and colonels are ventilating 
their opinions through the press. I think their let- 
ters may have good eifect upon the people at home, 
and prevent them from discouraging the army and 
crippling the Administration. Surely the effort now 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 221 

being put forth by a great party in the North to 
convince the troops in the field that this is an un- 
just war, an abolition or nigger war. must have a 
tendency to injure the army, and, if persisted in, may 
finally ruin it. 

19. Work on the fortifications still continues. 
This is to be a depot of supplies, and there are pro- 
visions enough already here to subsist the army for 
a month. Now that the Cumberland is high, and 
the railroads in running order, any amount of sup- 
plies may be brought through. 

Expeditions go out occasionally to diiferent parts 
of the country, and slight aifairs occur, which are 
magnified into serious engagements; but really noth- 
ing of any importance has transpired since we obtained 
possession of Murfreesboro. A day or two ago we 
had an account of an expedition into the enemy^s 
country by the One Hundred and Twenty-third Illi- 
nois, Colonel Monroe commanding. According to 
this veracious report, the Colonel had a severe fight, 
killed a large number of the enemy, and captured 
three hundred stand of arms; but the truth is, that 
he did not take time to count the rebel dead, and 
the arms taken were one hundred old muskets found 
in a house by the roadside. 

The expeditions sent out to capture John Morgan 
have all been failures. His own knowledge of the 
country is thorough, and besides, he has in his com- 
mand men from every neighborhood, who know not 
only every road and cow-path in the locality, but 
every man, woman, and child. The people serve 



222 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [February, 

him also, by advising him of all our movements. 
They guide him to our detachments when they are 
weak, and warn him away from them when strong. 
Were the rebel army in Ohio, and as bitterly hated 
by the people of that State as the Nationals are by 
those of Kentucky and Tennessee, it would be an 
easy matter indeed to hang upon the skirts of that 
army, pick up stragglers, burn bridges, attack wagon 
trains, and now and then pounce down on an outlying 
picket and take it in. 

20. Colonel Lytle, my old brigade commander, 
called on me to-day. He informed me that he had 
not been assigned yet. I inferred from this that he 
thought it utterly impossible for one so distinguished 
as himself to come down to a regiment. His own 
regiment, the Tenth Ohio, is here, and nominally a 
part of my brigade, although it has not acted with it 
since Kosecrans assumed command of the Army of 
the Cumberland. Under Lieutenant-Colonel Burke, 
it is doing guard duty at Department head-quarters. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 223 



MARCH, 1863. 



1. There is talk of consolidation at Washington. 
This is a sensible idea, and should be carried into 
effect at once. There are too many officers and too 
few men; The regiments should be consolidated, and 
kept full by conscription, if it can not be done other- 
wise. The best officers should be retained, and the 
others sent home to stand their chances of the draft. 

A major of the Fifteenth Kentucky sent in his 
resignation a few days ago, assigning as a reason 
for so doing that the object of the war was now the 
elevation of the negro. The concluding paragraph 
of his letter was in these words : '^ The service can not 
possibly suffer by my resignation.'^ The document 
passed through my hands on its way to Department 
head quarters, and I indorsed it as follows : 

''Major H. F. Kalfus, Fifteenth Kentucky Volun- 
teer Infantry, being ' painfully and reluctantly con- 
vinced ' that the party in power is disposed to elevate 
the negro, desires to quit the service. I trust he will 
be allowed to do so, and "cheerfully certify to the 
correctness of one statement which he makes herein, 
to-wit: The service can not possibly suffiir by his 
resignation. '^ 



224 ■ THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

General Rosecrans has just sent nie an order to ar- 
rest the Major, and send him under guard to the Pro- 
vost-Marshal General. The arrest will be made in a 
few minutes, and may create some excitement among 
our Kentucky friends. 

3. . Tlie fortifications are progressing. The men 
work four hours each day in the trenches. The re- 
mainder of the time they spend pretty much as they 
see fit. 

General Garfield is now chief of stafi; It is the 
first instance in the West of an officer of his rank be- 
ing assigned to that position. It is an important 
place, however, and one too often held not merely by 
officers of inferior rank, but of decidedly inferior abil- 
ity. General Buell had a colonel as chief of staff, and, 
until the appointment of Garfield, General Eosecrans 
had a lieutenant-colonel or major. 

To-night an ugly and most singular specimen of 
the negro called to obtain employment. He was not 
over three feet and a half high, hump-backed, 
crooked-legged, and quite forty years old. Poking 
his head into my tent, and, taking off his hat, he said : 
"Is de Co'nel in?" "Yes." " Hurd you Avants a 
boy, sah. Man tole me Co'nel Eighty-eighth Olehio 
wants a boy, sah." "What can you do? Can you 
cook?" "Yas, sah." "Where did you learn to 
cook ?" " On de plantation, sah." " What is your 
master's name?" " Rucker, sah." "Is he a loyal 
man?" "No, sah, he not a lawyer; his brudder, de 
cussen one, is de lawyer." " Is he secesh ?" "O, yas, 
sah; yas, he sesesh." "It is the Colonel of the 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 225 

Eighty-eightli Indiana you should see;" and I directed 
him to the ColonePs tent. As he turned to leave, he 
muttered, " Man tole me Eighty-eighth Olehio ;" but 
he went hobbling over to the Eighty-eighth, with 
fear^ anxiety, and hope struggling in his old face. 

4. Major Kalfus, Fifteenth Kentucky, arrested on 
Sunday, and since held in close confinement, was dis- 
honorably dismissed from the service to-day for using 
treasonable language in tendering his resignation. 
He was escorted outside the lines and turned loose. 
The Major is a cross-roads politician, and will, I doubt 
not, be a lion among his half-loyal neighbors when he 
returns home. 

5. Our picket on the Manchester pike was driven 
in to-day. The cavalry, under General Stanley, Avent 
to the rescue, when a fight occurred. No partic- 
ulars. 

9. T. Buchanan Reid, the poet, entertained us at 
the court-house this evening. The room had been 
trimmed up by the rebels for a ball. The words, 
"Shiloh," "Fort Donelson," " Hartsville," "Santa 
Rosa," " Pensacola," were surrounded with evergreens. 
The letter "B," painted on the walls in a dozen 
places, was encompassed by wreaths of flowers, now 
faded and yellow. My native modesty led me to 
conclude that the letter so highly honored stood for 
Bragg, and not for the commander of the Seventeenth 
Brigade, U. S. A. 

General "Garfield introduced Mr. Reid by a short 
speech, not delivered in his usual happy style. I 
was impressed with the idea all the time, that he 



226 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

had too many buttons on his coat — he certainly had 
a great many buttons — and the splendor of the double 
row possibly detracted somewhat from the splendor 
of his remarks. 

Mr. E-eid is a small man, and has not sufficient 
voice to make himself heard distinctly in so large a 
hall. In a parlor his recitations would be capital. 
He read fix)m his own poem, " The Wagoner/' a de- 
scription of the battle of Brandywine. It is possibly 
a very good representation of that battle ; but, if so, 
the battle of Brandywine was very unlike that of 
Stone river. At Brandywine, it appears, the generals 
slashed around among the enemy's infantry with drawn 
swords, doing most of the hard fighting and most of 
the killing themselves. I did not discover anything 
of that kind at Stone river. It is possible the style 
went out of fashion before the rebellion began. It 
would, however, be very satisfactory to the rank and 
file to see it restored. Mr. Reid said some good 
things in his lecture, and was well applauded ; but, 
in the main, he was too ethereal, vapory, and fanciful 
for the most of us leather-heads. When he puts a 
soldier-boy on the top of a high mountain to sing 
patriotic songs, and bid defiance to King George be- 
cause '^ Eagle is King,'' we are impressed with the 
idea that that soldier could have been put to better 
use; that, in fact, he is entirely out of the line of 
duty. The position assigned him is unnatural, and 
the modern soldier-boy will be apt to conclude that 
nobody but a simpleton would be likely to wander 
about in solitary places, extemporizing in measured 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 227 

sentences/ besides it is hard work, as I know from 
experience. I tried my hand at it the other day mi- 
til my head ached, and this is the best I could do : 

O ! I^rd, when will this war end? 
These days of marchings, nights of lonely guard? 
This terrible expenditure of health and life? 
Where is the glory ? Where is the reward, 
For sacrifice of comfort, quiet, peace? r 

For sacrifice of children, wife, and friends? 
For sacrifice of firesides — genial homes? 
What hour, what gift, will ever make amends 
For broken health, for bruised flesh and bones, 
For lives cut short by bullet, blade, disease? 
Where balm to heal the widow's heart, or what 
Shall soothe a mother's grief for woes like these? 

Hold, murmurer, hold ! Is country naught to thee? 
Is freedom nothing? Naught an honored name? 
What though the days be cold, or the nights dark, 
The brave heart kindles for itself a flame 
That warms and lightens up the world ! 
Home ! What 's home, if in craven shame 
We seek its hearthstone ? Bitterest of cold. 
Better creep thither bruised, and torn, and lame. 
Than seek it in health when justice needs our aid. 

Where is the glory? Where is the reward? 
Think of the generations that will come 
To praise and bless the hero. Think of God, 
Who in due time will call His soldiers home. 
How comfort mother for the loss of son ? 
What balm to which her heaviest grief must yield? 
Ah ! the plain, simple, ever-glorious words : 
" Your son died nobly on the battle-field !" 



228 THE CITIEZN SOLDIER; [March, 

What balm to soothe a \vidow*s aching heart? 
The grand assurance that in the battle shock 
Foremost her husband stood, defying all, 
For freedom and truth, unyielding as the rock. 
Then, courage, all, and when the strife is,past, 
And grief for lost ones takes a milder hue, 
This thought shall crown the living and the dead : 
"He lived, he died, to God and duty true." 

10. Rain has been descending most of the day, 
and just now is pouring down with great violence. A 
happy party in the adjoining tent are exercising their 
lungs on a negro melody, of which this is something 
like the chorus: 

" De massa run, ha, ha ! 
De nigger stay, ho, ho ! 
It mus' be now de kingdom comin', 
And de year of jubelo." 

I can not affirm that the music with which these 
gentlemen so abound, on this rainy and dismal night, 
has that soothing effect on the human heart ascribed 
to music in general; but, however little I may feel 
like rejoicing now, I am quite sure I shall feel hap- 
pier when the concert ends. The singers have con- 
cluded the negro melody, and are breathing out 
their souls in a sentimental piece. Now and then, 
when more than ordinarily successful in the higher 
strains, they nearly equal the most exalted efforts of 
the tom-cat ; and then, again, in the execution of the 
lower notes and more pathetic passages, we are 
brought nigh unto tears by an inimitable imita- 



t863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 229 

tion of the wailings of a very young and sick 
kitten. 

"Do they miss me at home; do they miss me?" 

I venture to say they do, and with much gratifica- 
tion if, when there, you favored them often with this 
infernal noise. 

14. The weather is remarkably fine to-day. I 
saw Mrs. and Major-General McCook and Mrs. and 
Major-Gen eral Wood going out to the battle-field, On 
horseback, this morning. Mrs. General Kosecrans 
arrived last night on a special train. 

16. Tlie roads are becoming good, and every body 
is on horseback. Many officers have their wives here. 
On the way to Murfreesboro this morning, I met two 
ladies with an escort going to the battle-field. Re- 
turning I met General Rosecrans and wife. The Gen- 
eral hallooed after me, '^ How d ^ye do V^ to which I 
shouted back, at the top of my voice, the very orig- 
inal reply, "Very well, thank you." From the num- 
ber of ladies gathering in, one might very reasonably 
conclude that no advance was contemplated soon. 
Still all signs fail in war times, as they do in dry 
weather. As a rule, perhaps, when a movement ap- 
pears most improbable, we should be on the lookout 
for orders to start. 

The army, under Rosecrans' administration, looks 
better than it ever did before. He certainly enters 
into his work with his whole soul, and unless some 
unlucky mishap knocks his feet from under him, he 
will soon be recognized as the first general of the 



230 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

Union. I account for his success thus far, in part at 
least, by the fact that he has been- long enough away 
from West Point, mixing with the people, to get a 
little common sense rubbed into him. 

While writing the last word above, the string band 
of the Third struck up at the door of my tent. Go- 
ing out, I found all the commissioned officers of that 
regiment standing in line. Adjutant Wilson nudged 
me, and said they expected a speech. I asked if beer 
would not suit them better. He thought not. I 
have not attempted to make a speech for two years, 
and never made a successful attempt in my life ; 
but I knocked the ashes out of my pipe and 
began : 

" Gentlemen : I am informed that all the officers 
of the Third are here. I am certainly very glad to 
see you, and extremely sorry that I am not better pre- 
pared to receive and entertain you. The press in- 
forms us that I have been very highly honored. If 
the report that I have been promoted is true, I am 
indebted to your gallantry, and that of the brave men 
of the Third, for the honor. You gave me my first 
position, and then were kind enough to deem me 
worthy of a second; and if now I have obtained a 
third, and higher one, it is because I have had the 
good fortune to command good soldiers. The step 
upward in rank will simply increase my debt of grat- 
itude to you.^' 

The officers responded cordially, by assuring me 
that they rejoiced over my promotion, and were 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 231 

anxious that I should continue in command of the 
brigade to which the Third is attached. 

Charlie Davison can sing as many songs as Mickey 
Free, of '^ Charles O'Malley/^ and sing them well. 
In Irish melodies he is especially happy. Hark! 

''Dear Erin, how sweetly thy green bosom rises, 
An emerald set in the ring of the sea; 
Each blade of thy meadows my faithful heart prizes. 
Thou Queen of the West, the world's cush la machree. 
sK ^ '!< H^ * ^i 

Thy sons they are brave; but the battle once over, 
In brotherly peace with their foes they agree. 

And the roseate cheeks of thy daughters discover. 
The soul-speaking blush that says cush la machree." 

17. Dined with General Wagner, and, in com- 
pany with Wagner and General Palmer, witnessed an 
artillery review. 

18. My brigade is still at work on the fortifica- 
tions. They are, however, nearly completed. 

Shelter tents were issued to our division to-day. 
We are still using the larger tent; but it is evidently 
the intention to leave these behind when Ave move. 
Last fall the shelter tents were used for a time by the 
Pioneer Brigade. They are so small that a man can 
not stand up in them. The boys were then very bitter 
in condemnation of them, and called them dog tents and 
dog pens. Almost every one of these tents was marked 
in a way to indicate the unfavorable opinion which 
the boys entertained of them, and in riding through 



232 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

the company quarters of the Pioneer Brigade, the 
eye would fixll on inscriptions of this sort: 

PUPS FOR SALE*— RAT TERRIERS — BULL PUPS HERE 

DOG-HOLE NO. 1 — SONS OF BITCHES WITHIN 

DOGS — PURPS. 

General Rosecrans and staff, while riding by one 
day, were greeted with a tremendous bow-wow. The 
boys were on their hands and knees, stretching their 
heads out of the ends of the tents, barking furiously 
at the passing cavalcade. The General laughed 
heartily, and promised them better accommodations. 

The news from Vicksburg is somewhat encour- 
aging, but certainly very indefinite, and far from sat- 
isfactory. 

19. Reviews are the order of the hour. All the 
brigades of our division, except mine, were reviewed 
by General Rosecrans this afternoon. It w^as a fine 
dis^^lay, but hard on the soldiers; they were kept so 
long standing. 

At Middletown, sixteen miles away, the rebels are 
four thousand strong, and within a day or two they 
have ventured to Salem, five miles distant. 

20. Loomis, who has just returned from home, 
called this evening, and we drank a bottle of Avine 
over the promotion. He is in trouble about his com- 
mission as colonel of artillery. Tw^o months ago the 
Governor of Michigan gave him the commission, and 
since that time he has been wearing a colonePs uni- 
form ; but General Rosecrans has expressed doubts 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 233 

about his right to assume the rank. Loomis is all 
rightj doubtless, and to-morrow, when the matter is 
talked over between the General and himself, it will 
be settled satisfactorily. 

21. I have been running over Russell's diary, 
"North and South/^ and must say the Yankee Na- 
tion, when looked at through Mr. RusselPs specta- 
cles, does not appear enveloped in that star-spangled 
glory and super-celestial blue with which it is wont to 
loom up before patriotic eyes on Fourth of July occa- 
sions. He has treated us, however, fully as Avell as 
we have treated him. We became angry because he 
told unpleasant truths about us, and he became en- 
raged because we abused him for it. He thanks God 
that he is not an American ; and should not we, in a 
spirit of conciliation, meet him half way, and feel 
thankful that he is not ? 

Flaming dispatches will appear in the Northern 
papers to-morrow respecting the defeat of John Mor- 
gan, by a small brigade of our troops under Colonel 
Hall. The report will say that forty of the enemy 
were killed, one hundred and fifty wounded, and one 
hundred and twenty captured ; loss on our side incon- 
siderable. The reporters have probably contributed 
largely to the brilliancy of this affair. It is always 
safe to accept with distrust all reports which affirm 
that a few men, with little loss, routed, slaughtered, 
or captured a large force. 

Peach and cherry trees are in full bloom. The 
grass is beginning to creep out. Summer birds occa- 
20 



234 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

sionally sing around us. In a few weeks more the 
trees will be in full leaf again. 

23. General Negley, who went home some time 
ago, returned to-day, and, I see, w^ars two stars. 

General Brannan arrived a day or two ago. He 
was on the train captured by guerrillas, but was res- 
cued a few minutes after. 

The boys have a rumor that Bragg is near, and has 
sent General Rosecrans a very polite note requesting 
him to surrender Murfreesboro at once. If the latter 
refuses to accept this most gentlemanly invitation to 
deliver up all his forces, Bragg proposes to commence 
an assault upon our works at twelve M., and show us 
no mercy. This, of course, is reliable. 

At sunset rain began to fall, and has continued to 
pour down steadily ever since. The night is gloomy. 
Adjutant Wilson, in the next tent, is endeavoring 
to lift himself from the slough of despond by hum- 
ming a ditty of true love ; but the effort is evidently 
a failure. 

This morning I stood on the bank of the river 
and observed the pontoniers as they threw their bridge 
of boats across the stream. Twice each week they 
unload the pontoons from the wagons, run them into 
the water, put the scantling from boat to boat, lay 
down the plank, and thus make a good bridge on 
which men, horses, and wagons can cross. After com- 
pleting the bridge, they immediately begin to take it 
up, load the lumber and pontoons on the wagons, and 
return to camp. They can bridge any stream between 



1863] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 235 

this and the Tennessee in an hour, and can put a 
bridge over that in probably three hours. 

General Rosecrans makes a fine display in his visits 
about the camps. He is accompanied by his staif and 
a large and well-equipped escort, with outriders in 
front and rear. The National flag is borne at the 
head of the column. 

Rosecrans is of medium height and stout, not quite 
so tall as McCook, and not nearly so heavy. McCook 
is young, and very fleshy. Rousseau is by far the 
handsomest man in the army ; tall and well-propor- 
tioned, but possibly a little too bulky. R. S. Granger 
is a little man, with a heavy, light sandy mustache. 
Wood is a small man, short and slim, with dark com- 
plexion, and black whiskers. Crittenden, the major- 
general, is a spare man, medium height, lank, com- 
mon sort of face, w^ell whiskered. Major-General 
Stanley, the cavalryman, is of good size, gentlemanly 
in bearing, light complexion, brown hair. McCook 
and Wood swear like pirates, and afi'ect the rough- 
and-ready style. Rousseau is given to profanity 
somewhat, and blusters occasionally. Rosecrans in- 
dulges in an oath now and then ; but is a member of 
the Catholic Church in good standing. Crittenden, I 
doubt not, sw^ears like a trooper, and yet I have never 
heard him do so. He is a good drinker; and the 
same can be said of Rousseau. RosQcrans is an edu- 
cated officer, who has rubbed much against the world, 
and has experience. Rousseau is brave, but knows 
little of military science. McCook is a chucklehead. 
Wood and Crittenden know how to blow their own 



236 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

horns exceedingly well. Major-General Thomas is 
tall, heavy, sedate ; whiskers and head grayish. Puts 
on less style than any of those named, and is a gen- 
tlemanly, modest, reliable soldier. Eosecrans and 
McCook shave clean; Crittenden and Wood go the 
whole whisker; Thomas shaves the upper lip. Eose- 
crans' nose is large, and curves down ; Eousseau's is 
large, and curves up ; McCook has a weak nose, that 
would do no credit to a baby. Eosecrans' laugh is not 
one of the free, open, hearty kind ; Eousseau has a 
good laugh, but shows poor teeth; McCook has a 
grin, which excites the suspicion that he is either still 
very green or deficient in the upper story. 

22. Colonels Wilder and Funkhauser called. We 
had just disposed of a bottfe of wine, when Colonel 
Harker made his appearance, and we entered forth- 
with upon another. Colonel Wilder expects to ac- 
complish a great work with his mounted infantry. 
He is endeavoring to arm them with the Henry rifle, 
a gun which, with a slight twist of the wrist, will 
throw sixteen bullets in almost that many seconds. I 
have no doubt he will render his command very effi- 
cient and useful, for he has wonderful energy and 
nerve, and is, besides, sensible and practical. Colonel 
Harker is greatly disappointed because he was not 
confirmed as brigadier-general during the last session 
of Congress. H^ is certainly young enough to afford 
to wait ; but he seems to fear that, after commanding 
a brigade for nine months, he may have to go back to 
a regiment. He feels, too, that, being a New Jersey 
man, commanding Ohio troops, neither State will take 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 237 

an interest in him, and render him that assistance 
which, under other circnmstances, either of them 
might do. These gentlemen dined with me. Harker 
and Wilder expressed a high opinion of General 
Buell. Wilder says Gilbert is a d — d scouiKlrel, and 
responsible for the loss at Mumfordsville. Harker, 
however, defended Gilbert, and is the only man I 
have ever heard speak favorably of him. 

The train coming from Xashville to-day was fired 
upon and four men wounded. Yesterday there was a 
force of the enemy along the whole south front of our 
picket line. 

From the cook's tent, in the rear, comes a devo- 
tional refrain : 

" I 'm gui-en home, I 'm gui-en home, 
To d-i-e no mo'." 

24. We are still pursuing the even tenor of our 
way on the fortifications. There are no indications of 
an advance. The array, however, is well equipped, 
in good spirits, and prepared to move at an hour's 
notice. Its confidence in Ivosecrans is boundless, 
and whatever it may be required to do, it will, I 
donbt not, do with a will. 

The conscript law, and that clause especially which 
provides for the granting of a limited number of fur- 
loughs, gives great satisfaction to the men. They not 
only feel that they will soon have help, but that if 
their conduct be good, there will be a fair chance for 
them to see home before the expiration of their term 



238 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [March, 

of enlistment. Hitherto they have been something 
like prisoners without hope. 

26. Another little misfortune has occurred to our 
arms at Brentwood. The Twenty-second Wisconsin, 
numbering four hundred men, was captured by Gen- 
eral Forrest. The rebels succeed admirably in gath- 
ering up and consolidating our scattered troops. 

The Adjutant and others are having a concert in 
the next tent, and certainly laugh more over their 
own performance than singers do generally. They 
have just executed 

" The foin ould Irish gintleman," 

And are at this present writing shouting 

" Vive r America, home of the free." 

I think it more than probable that as their enthusi- 
asm increases, the punch in their punch-bowl dimin- 
ishes. 

27. A mule has just broken the stillness of the 
night by a most discordant bray, and I am reminded 
that all horses are to be turned over to the mounted 
infantry regiments, and mules used in the teams in 
their stead. Mules are far better for the wagons than 
horses. They require less food, are hardier, and 
stand up better under rough work and irregular 
feeding. 

I catch the faintest possible sound of a violin 
Some indomitable spirit is enlivening the night, and 
trenching upon the Sabbath, by giving loose rein to 
his genius. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 231) 

During the liglit baggage and rapid marches of the 
latter part of BuelFs administration, together with 
the mishaps at Perryville, the string band of the 
Third was very considerably damaged; but the boys 
have recently resuscitated and revived it to all the 
glory and usefulness of former days. One of its 
sweetest singers, however, has either deserted or re- 
tired to hospital or barracks, where the duties are less 
onerous and life more safe. His greatest hit was a 
song known as " The Warble," in which the follow- 
ing lines occurred : 

*' Mein fadter, mein raodter, mein sister, mein frau, 
Und zwi glass of beer for meinself. 
Dcy called mein frau one blacksmit-schopt ; 
Uud such dings I never did see in my life." 

When, at Shelbyville and Huntsville, this melody 
mingled with the moonlight of summer evenings, peo- 
ple generally were deluded into the supposition that an 
ethereal songster was on the wing, enrapturing them 
with harmonies of other spheres. But sutlers, it is 
well known, are men of little or no refinement, with 
ears for money rather than music. To their unappre- 
ciative and perverted senses the warble seemed sim- 
ply a -dolorous appeal for more whisky; and while 
delivering up their last bottle to get rid of the warbler 
and his friends, in order that they might get sleep 
themselves, they have been known to express the 
hope that both song and singers might, without un- 
necessary delay, go to that region which we are told 
is paved with good intentions. 



240 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; (March, 

The voice of a colored person in the rear breaks in 
upon my recollections of the warbler. The most in- 
teresting and ugliest negro now in camj:), is known as 
Simon Bolivar Buckner. He is an animal that has 
been worth in his day eighteen hundred dollars, an 
estray from the estate of General S. B. Buckner. He 
manages, by blacking boots and baking leather pies, 
to make money. He deluded me into buying a sec- 
ond pie from him one day, by assuring me, ''on 
honah, sah, dat de las pie was better ^i de fus', case he 
hab strawberries iu him." True, the pie had ''straw- 
berries in him/' but not enough to pay one for chew- 
ing the whit-leather crust. 

30. Read Judge Holt's review of the proceedings 
and findings in the case of Fitzjohn Porter. If the 
review presents the facts fiiirly, Porter should have 
been not only dismissed, but hung. An officer who, 
wdth thirteen thousand men, will remain idle when 
Avithin sight of the dust and in hearing of the shouts 
of the enemy and the noise of battle, knowing that 
his friends are contending against superior numbers, 
and having good reason to believe that they are 
likely to be overwhelmed, deserves no mercy. 

It is dull. I have hardly enough to do to keep 
me awake. The members of the staff each have 
their separate duties to perform, which keep them 
more or less engaged. The quartermaster issues 
clothing to the troops ; the commissary of subsist- 
ence issues food; the inspector looks into the con- 
dition of each regiment as to clothing, arms, and 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OB- A VOLUNTEER. 241 

camp equipage ; the adjutant makes out the detail 
for guard and other duties, and transmits orders re- 
ceived from the division commander to the regi- 
ments. All of these officers have certain reports 
to make also, which consumes much of their time. 



21 



242 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 



APRIL, 1863. 



1. Adjutant Wilson received a letter to-day, 
written in a hand that bespoke the writer to be 
feminine. lie looked at the name, but could not 
recollect having heard it before. The writer assured 
him, however, that she was an old friend, and said 
many tender and complimentary things of him. He 
tried to think; called the roll of his lady friends, but 
the advantage, as people say, which the writer had of 
him was entirely too great. If he had ever heard 
the name, he found it impossible now to recall it. 
Finally, as he was going to fold the letter and put it 
away, he noticed one line at the top, written upside 
down. On reading it the mystery was solved : ^' If 
this reaches you on the first day of April, a reply to 
it is not expected." 

The colored gentlemen of the staff are in a great 
state of excitement. One of the number has been 
illustrating the truth of that maxim which affirnjs 
that a nigger will steal. The war of words is terri- 
ble. ^^ Yer d — d ole nigger thief," says one. '^ Hush ! 
I ^11 break yer black jaw fer yer," says another. They 
say very few harder things of each other than ^' you 
dam nigger." One would think the pot in this in- 



iSfisJ OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 243 

Stance would hardly take to calling the kettle black, 
but it does. They use the word nigger to express 
contempt, dislike, or defiance, as often and freely as 
the whites. Finally, the parties to this controversy 
agree to leave the matter to ^*de Co^iel." The ac- 
cused was the first to thrust his head into my tent, 
and ask permission to enter. " Dey is a gwine to tell 
yer as I stole some money from ole Hason. I didn^t 
done it, Co'nel ; as sure as I ^m a livin' I did n^t done 
it." ^' Yaas, yer did, you lyin^ nigger !" broke in old 
Hason. "Now, Co'nel, I want ter tell you the 
straight of it." I listened patiently to the old man's 
statement and to the evidence adduced, and as it was 
very clear that the accused was guilty, put him under 
guard. 

The first day of April has been very pleasant, cool 
but clear. The night is beautiful ; the moon is at its 
full almost, and its light falls mellow and soft on the 
scene around me. The redoubt is near, with its guns 
standing sentinel at each corner, the long line of earth- 
works stretches off to the right and left ; the river 
gleams and sparkles as it flows between its rugged 
banks of stone; the shadowy flags rise and fall lazily; 
the sentinels walk to and fro on their beats with sil- 
vered bayonets, and the dull glare of the camp-fires, 
and the snow-white tents, are seen every-where. 

Somebody, possibly the Adjutant, whose thoughts 
may be still running on the fair unknown, breaks 
forth : 

" why did she flatter my boyish pride, 
She is going to leave me now ;" 



244 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

And then, with a vehemence which betokens des- 
peration, 

" I'll hang my harp on a willow tree, 
And oflf to the wars again." 

From which I infer it would be highly satisfactory 
to the young man to be demolished at the enemy^s 
earliest convenience. 

A large amount of stores are accumulated here. 
Forty thousand boxes of hard bread are stacked in 
one pile at the depot, and greater quantities of flour, 
pork, vinegar, and molasses, than I have ever seen 
before. 

3. An Indiana newspaper reached camp to-day 
containing an obituary notice of a lieutenant of the 
Eighty-eighth Indiana. It gives quite a lengthy 
biographical sketch of the deceased, and closes with a 
letter which purports to have been written on the 
battle-field by one Lieutenant John Thomas, in which 
Lieutenant Wildman, the subject of the sketch, is said 
to have been shot near Murfreesboro, and that his 
last words were : ^' Bury me where I have fallen, and 
do not allow my body to be removed. ^^ The letter is 
exceedingly complimentary to the said lamented 
young man, and affirms that " he was the hero of 
heroes, noted for his reckless daring, and universally 
beloved.'^ The singular feature about this whole mat- 
ter is that the letter was written by the lamented 
young officer himself to his own uncle. The deceased 
justifies his action by saying that he had expended 
two dollars for foolscap and one dollar for postage 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 245 

stamps in writing to the d — d old fool^ and never re- 
ceived a reply, and he concluded finally he would 
write a letter which would interest him. It appears 
by the paper i^eferred to that the lieutenant succeeded. 
The uncle and his family are in mourning for an- 
other martyr gone — the hero of heroes and the uni- 
versally beloved. 

Lieutenant DuBarry, topographical engineer, has 
just been promenading the line of tents in his night- 
shirt, Avith a club, in search of some scoundrel, sup- 
posed to be the Adjutant, who has stuffed his bed 
with stove-wood and stones. Wilson, on seeing the 
ghostly apparition approach, breaks into song: 

"Meet me by moonlight alone, 
And there I will tell you a tale." 

Lieutenant Orr, commissary of subsistence, coming 
up at this time, remarks to DuBarry that he " is sur- 
prised to see him take it so coolly,^' whereupon the 
latter, notwithstanding the chilliness of the atmos- 
phere, and the extreme thinness of his dress, ex- 
presses himself with very considerable warmth. 
Patterson, a clerk, and as likely to be the offender as 
any one, now joins the party, and affirms, with great 
earnestness, that '' this practical joke business must 
end, or somebody will get hurt." 

4. Saw Major-General McCook, Avife, and staff 
riding out this morning. General Rosecrans was out 
this afternoon, but I did not see him. At this hour 
the signal corps is communicating from the dome of 
the court-house with the forces at Triune, sixteen 



246 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

miles away, and with the troops at Reaclyville and 
other points. In daylight this is done by flags, at 
night by torches. 

5. There are many fine residences in Murfreesboro 
and vicinity; but the trees and shrubbery, which con- 
tributed in a great degree to their beauty and com- 
fort, have been cut or trampled down and destroyed. 
Many frame houses, and very good ones, too, have 
been torn down, and the lumber and timber used in 
the construction of hospitals. 

There is a fearful stench in many places near here, 
arising from decaying horses and mules, which have 
not been properly buried, or probably not buried at 
all. The camps, as a rule, are well policed and kept 
clean ; but the country for miles around is strewn 
with dead animals, and the w^arm weather is begin- 
ning to tell on them. 

6. It is said that the Third Regiment, with others, 
is to leave to-morrow on an expedition which may 
keep it away for months. !No official notice of the 
matter has been given me, and I trust the report may 
be unfounded. I should be sorry indeed to be sep- 
arated from the regiment. I have been with it now 
two years, and to lose it would be like losing the 
greater number of my army friends and acquaint- 
ances. 

7. The incident of the day, to me at least, is the 
departure of the Third. It left on the two P. M. 
train for Kashville. I do not think I have been 
properly treated. They should at least have con- 
sulted me before detaching my old regiment. I am 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 247 

informed that Colonel Streight, who is in command of 
the expedition, was permitted to select the regiments, 
and the matter has been conducted so secretly that, 
before I had an intimation of what was contemplated, 
it was too late to take any steps to keep the Third. 
I never expect to be in command of it again. It w ill 
get into another current, and drift into other brig- 
ades, divisions, and army corps. The idea of being 
mounted was very agreeable to both officers and men ; 
but a little experience in that branch of the service 
will probably lead them to regret the choice they 
have made. My best wishes go with them. 

All are looking with eager eyes toward Vicksburg. 
Its fall would send a thrill of joy through the loyal 
heart of the country, especially if accompanied by 
the capture of the Confederate troops now in posses- 
sion. 

8. Six months ago this night, parching w^ith thirst 
and pinched with hunger, we were lying on Chaplin 
Hills, thinking over the terrible battle of the after- 
noon, expecting its renewal in the morning, listen- 
ing to the shots on the picket line, and notified by 
an occasional bullet that the enemy was occupying 
the thick woods just in our front, and very near. A 
little over three months ago we were in the hurry, 
confusion, anxiety, and suspense of an undecided bat- 
tle, surrounded by the dead and dying, with the ene- 
my's long line of camp-fires before us. Since then 
we have had a quiet time, each succeeding day seem- 
ing the dullest. 

Hode into town this afternoon; invested twenty- 



248 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

five cents in two red apples ; spoke to Captain Blair, 
of Reynolds' staff; exchanged nods with Vi, D. B.^ 
of the Commercial ; saw a saddle horse run away 
w^ith its rider ; returned to camp ; entertained Shanks, 
of the New York Herald, for ten minutes ; drank a 
glass of wine with Colonel Taylor, Fifteenth Ken- 
tucky, and soon after dropped olf to sleep. 

A brass band is now playing, away over on the 
Lebanon pike. The pontoniers are singing a psalm, 
with a view, doubtless, to making the oaths with 
which they intend to close the night appear more 
forcible. The signal lights are waving to and fro 
from the dome of the court-house. The hungry 
mules of the Pioneer Corps are making the night 
hideous with howls. So, and amid such scenes, the 
tedious hours pass by. 

10. A soldier of the Fortieth Indiana, who, dur- 
ing the battle of Stone river, abandoned his company 
and regiment, and remained away until the fight 
ended, was shot this afternoon. Another will be shot 
on the 14th instant for deserting last fall. A man in 
our division who was sentenced to be shot, made his 
escape. 

It seems these cases were not affected by the new 
law, and the President's proclamation to deserters. 
Hitherto deserters have been seldom punished, and, 
as a rule, never as severely as the law allowed. 

My parchment arrived to-day, and I have written 
the necessary letter of acceptance and taken the oath, 
and henceforth shall subscribe myself yours, very re- 



1863.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 249 

spectfully, B. G., which, in my case, will probably 
stand for big goose. 

General Rosecrans halted a moment before my 
quarters this evening, shook hands with me very cor- 
dially, and introduced me to his brother, the Bishop, 
as a young general. The General asked why I liad 
not called* I replied that I knew he must be busy, 
and did not care to intrude. " True,'' said he, " I am 
busy, but have always time to say how d'ye do." He 
promised me another regiment to replace the Third, 
and said my boys looked fat enough to kick up. their 
heels. The General's popularity with the army is 
immense. On review, the other day, he saw a ser- 
geant who had no haversack; calling the attention of 
the boys to it he said : " This sergeant is without a 
haversack ; he depends on you for food ; don't give 
him a bite; let him starve." 

The General appears to be well pleased with his 
fortifications, and asked me if I did not think it 
looked like remaining. I replied that the works 
were strong, and a small force could hold them, and 
that I should be well pleased if the enemy Avould at- 
tack us here, instead of compelling us to go further 
south. ^'Yes," said he, "I wish. they would." 

General Lytic is to be assigned to Stanley Matthews' 
brigade. The latter was recently elected judge, and 
will resign and return to Cincinnati. 

The anti-Copperhead resolution business of the 
army must be pretty well exhausted. All the resolu- 
tions and letters on this subject that may appear here- 
after may be accepted as bids for office. They bave^. 



250 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

however, done a great deal of good, and I trust the 
public will not be forced to swallow an overdose. I 
had a faint inclination, at one time, to follow the ex- 
ample of my brother officers, and write a patriotic 
letter, but concluded to reserve my fire, and have had 
reason to congratulate myself since that I did so, for 
these letters have been as plenty as blackberries, and 
many of them not half so good. 

A Republican has not much need to write. His 
patriotism is taken for granted. He is understood to 
be willing to go the whole nigger, and, like the ogre 
of the story books, to whom the most delicious morsel 
was an old woman, lick his chops and ask for more. 

Wilder came in yesterday, with his mounted infan- 
try, from a scout of eight or ten days, bringing sixty 
or seventy prisoners and a large number of horses. 

11. A railway train was destroyed by the rebels 
near Lavergne yesterday. One hundred officers fell 
into the hands of the enemy, and probably one hun- ■ 
dred thousand dollars in money, on the way to 
soldiers' families, was taken. This feat was accom- 
plished right under the nose of our troops. 

To the uninitiated army life is very fascinating. 
The long marches, nights of picket, and ordeal of 
battle are so festooned by the imagination of the in- 
experienced with shoulder straps, glittering blades, 
music, banners, and glory, as to be irresistible ; but 
when we sit down to the hard crackers and salt pork, 
with which the soldier is wont to regale himself, we 
can not avoid recurring to the loaded tables and de- 
licious morsels of other days, and are likely at such 



x863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 251 

times to put hard crackers and glory on one side, 
the good things of home and peace on the other and 
owing probably to the unsubstantial quality of glory, 
and the adamantine quality of the crackers, arrive at 
conclusions not at all favorable to army life. 

A fellow claiming to have been sent here by the 
Governor of Maine to write songs for the army, and 
who wrote songs for quite a number of regiments, 
was arrested some days ago on the charge of being a 
spy. Last night he attempted to get away from the 
guard, and was shot. Drawings of our fortifications 
were found in his boots. He was quite well known 
throughout the army, and for a long time unsus- 
pected. 

12. Called on General Rousseau. He referred to 
his trip to Washington, and dwelt with great pleas- 
ure on the various efforts of the people along the 
route to do him honor. At Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 
they stood in the cold an hour and a half awaiting 
his appearance. Our division, he informs me, is un- 
derstood to possess the chivalric and dashing qualities 
which the people admire. With all due respect, I 
suggested that dash was a good thing, doubtless, but 
steady, obstinate, well-directed fighting was better, 
and, in the end, would always succeed. 

W. D. B., of the Commercial, Major McDowell, of 
Rousseau's staff, and Lieutenant Porter, called this 
afternoon. My report of the operations of my brig- 
ade at Stone river was referred to. Bickham 
thought it did not do justice to my command, and 
I have no doubt it is a sorry affair, compared with 



252 THE CITIZEN VOLUNTEER; [Afiut., 

the elaborate reports of many others. The historian 
who accepts these reports as reliable, and permits 
himself to be guided by them through all the wind- 
ings of a five-days' battle, with the expectation of 
finally allotting to each one of forty brigades the 
proper credit, will probably not be successful. My 
report was called for late one evening, written hastily, 
without having before me the reports of my regi- 
mental commanders, and is incomplete, unsatisfac- 
tory to me, and unjust to my brigade. 

13. General Thomas called for a moment this 
evening, to congratulate me ofl my promotion. 

The practical-joke business is occasionally resumed. 
Quartermaster Wells was astonished to find that his 
stove would not draw, or, rather, that the smoke, con- 
trary to rule, insisted upon coming down instead of 
going up. Examination led to the discovery that the 
pipe was stuffed with old newspapers. Their removal 
heated the stove and his temper at the same time, but 
produced a coolness elsewhere, Avhich the practical 
joker affected to think quite unaccountable. 

14. Colonel Dodge, commanding the Second Brig- 
ade of Johnson's division, called this afternoon. The 
Colonel is a very industrious talker, chewer, spitter, 
and drinker. He has been under some tremendous 
hot firing, I can tell you! Well, if he don't know 
what heavy firing is, and the d — dest hottest Avork, 
too, then there is no use for men to talk ! The truth 
is, however much other men may try to conceal it, his 
command stood its ground at Shiloh, and never gave 
back an inch. No, sir! Every other brigade fal- 



iS63.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 253 

lered or fell back, damned if they didn't; but he 
drove the enemy, got 'em started, other brigades took 
courage and joined in the chase. At Stone river he 
drove the enemy again. Bullets came thicker 'n hail ; 
but his men stood up. He was with 'em. Damned 
hot, you better believe ! AVell, if he must say it him- 
self, he knew what hard fighting was. Why, sir, one 
of his men has five bullets in him; dam' me if he 
hasn't five! Says he, Dick says he, how did they hit 
you so many times ? The first time I fired, says Dick, 
I killed an officer; yes, sir, killed him dead; saw him 
fall, dam me, if he didn't, sir ; and at the same time, 
says Dick, I got a ball in my leg; rose up to fire 
again, and got one in my other leg, and one in my 
thigh, and fell ; got on my knees to fire the third 
time, says Dick, and received two more. Well, you 
see, the firing was hotter 'n hell, and Colonel Dodge 
knows what hot firing is, sir ! 

15. Since the fight at Franklin, and the capture 
of the passenger train at Lavergne, nothing of inter- 
est has occurred. There were only fifteen or twenty 
officers on the captured train. A large amount of 
money, however, fell into rebel hands. The post- 
master of our division was on the train, and the Con- 
federates compelled him to accompany them ten miles. 
He says they could have been traced very easily by 
the letters which they opened and scattered along the 
road. 

16. Morgan, with a considerable force, has taken 
possession of Lebanon, and troops are on the way 
thither to rout him. The tunnel near Gallatin has 



254 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

been blown up, and in consequence trains on the 
Nashville and Louisville Railroad are not running. 

17. Am member of a board whose duty it will be 
to inquire into the competency, qualifications, and 
conduct of volunteer officers. The other members 
are Colonels Scribner, Hambright, and Taylor. We 
called in a body on General Rousseau, and found 
him reading ''Les Miserables.'^ He apologized for 
his shabby appearance by saying that he had become 
interested in a foolish novel. Colonel Scribner ex- 
pressed great admiration for the characters Jean Yal 
Jean and Javort, when the General confessed to a 
very decided anxiety to have Javort\s neck twisted. 
This is the feeling of the reader at first; but when 
he finds the old granite man taking his own life as 
punishment for swerving once from what he consid- 
ered to be the line of duty, our admiration for him is 
scarcely less than that we entertain for Jean Val 
Jean. 

18. The Columbus (Ohio) Journal, of late date, 
under the head of ^^ Arrivals,'^ says: '^ General John 
Beatty has just married one of Ohio's loveliest 
daughters, and is stopping at the Keil House. Good 
for the General.'' This is a slander. I trust the 
paper of the next day made proper correction, 
and laid the charge, where it belongs, to wit: 
on General Samuel. If General Sam continues to 
demean himself in this youthful manner, I shall 
have to beg him to change his name. My reputation 
can not stand many more such blows. AVhat must 
those who know I have a wife and children think. 



1863.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 255 

when they see it announced that I have married 
again, and am stopping at the Neil with ^^one of 
Ohio's loveliest daughters?'^ What a horrible reflec- 
tion upon the character of a constant and faithful 
husband ! (This last sentence is written for my wife.) 

19. Colonel Taylor and I rode over to General 
Rousseau's this morning. Returning, we were joined 
by Colonel Nicholas, Second Kentucky; Colonel 
Hobart, Twenty-first Wisconsin, and Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Bingham, First Wisconsin, all of whom took 
dinner with me. We had a right pleasant party, but 
rather boisterous, possibly, for the Sabbath day. 

There is at this moment a lively discussion in 
progress in the cook^s tent, between two African gen- 
tlemen, in regard to military affairs. Old Hason says : 
"Oh, hush, darkey !'' Buckner replies :"Yer done 
no what'r talkin' about, nigger.'^ " I '11 bet yer a 
thousand dollars." '^ Hush ! yer ain't got five cents." 
"Gor way, yer don't no nufiin'." And so the debate 
continues; but, like many others, leads simply to con- 
fusion and bitterness. 

20. This evening an order came transferring my 
brigade to Negley's division. It will be known here- 
after as the Second Brigade, Second Division, Four- 
teenth Army Corps. 

28. Late last Monday night an officer from Stokes' 
battery reported to me for duty. I told him I had 
received no orders, and knew of no reason why he 
should report to me, and that in all probability 
General Samuel Boatty, of Van Cleve's division, was 
the person to whom he should report. I regarded 



256 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; (April, 

the matter as simply one of the many blunders which 
were occurring because there were two men of the 
same name and rank commanding brigades in this 
army; and so, soon after the officer left, I went to 
bed. Before I had gotten fairly to sleep, some one 
knocked again at my tent-door. While rising to 
strike a light the person entered, and said that he 
had been ordered to report to me. Supposing it to 
be the officer of the battery persisting in his mistake, 
I replied as before, and then turned over and went to 
sleep. I thought no more of the matter until 11:30 
A. M. next day, when an order came which should 
have been delivered twenty-four hours before, re- 
quiring me to get my brigade in readiness, and with 
one regiment of Colonel Harker^s command and the 
Chicago Board of Trade Battery, move toward Nash- 
ville at two o'clock Tuesday morning. Then, of 
course, I knew why the two officers had reported to 
me on the night previous, and saw that there had 
been an inexcusable delay in the transmission of the 
order to me. Giving the necessary directions to the 
regimental commanders, and sending notice to Harker 
and the battery, I proceeded with all dispatch direct 
to Department head-quarters, whence the order had 
issued, to explain the delay. When I entered Gen- 
eral Kosecrans shook hands with me cordially, and 
seemed pleased to see me; but I had no sooner an- 
nounced my business, and informed him that the or- 
der had been delivered to me not ten minutes before, 
than he flew into a violent passion, and asked if a 
battery and regiment had not reported to me the night 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 257 

before. I replied yes, and was proceeding to give 
my reasons for supposing that the officers reporting 
them were in error, when he shouted; "Why, in hell 
and damnation, did you not mount your horse anc^^ 
come to head-quarters to inquire what it meant?'' I 
undertook again to tell him I had received no or- 
der, and as my brigade had been detailed to work on 
fortifications I was expecting none ; that I had taken 
it for granted that it was another of the many mis- 
takes occurring constantly because there Avere two 
officers of the same name and rank in the army, and 
had so told the parties reporting; but he would not 
listen to me. His face Avas inflamed with anger, his 
rage uncontrollable, his language most ungentlemanly, 
abusive, and insulting. Garfield and many officers, 
commissioned and non-commissioned, and possibly 
not a few civilians, were present to witness my hu- 
miliation. For an instant I was tempted to strike 
him ; but my better sense checked me. I turned on 
my heel and left the room. Death would have had 
few terrors for me just then. I had never felt such 
bitter mortification before, and it seemed to me that 
I was utterly and irreparably disgraced. However, 
I had a duty to perform, and while in the execution 
of that I would have time to think. 

My brigade, one regiment of Colonel Harker's 
brigade, and the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, 
were already on the road. We marched rapidly, and 
that night (Tuesday) encamped in the woods north of 
Lavergne. Rain fell most of the night; but the 
22 



258 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

men had shelter tents, and I passed the time com- 
fortably in a wagon. The next morning at daylight 
we started again, and a little after sunrise arrived at 
Scrougeville. Here my orders directed me to halt 
and watch the movements of the enemy. The rebel 
cavalry, in pretty strong force, had been in the vicin- 
ity during the day and evening before ; but on learn- 
ing of our approach had galloped away. We were 
exceedingly active, and scoured the country for miles 
around, but did not succeed in getting sight of even 
one of these dashing cavaliers. 

The sky cleared, the weather became delightful, and 
the five days spent in the neighborhood of Scrouge- 
ville were very agreeable. It was a pleasant change 
from the dull routine of camp duty, and my men 
were in exuberant spirits, excessively merry and gay. 
While there, a good-looking non-commissioned of- 
ficer of the battery came up to me, and, extending his 
hand, said : " How do you do. General?'^ I shook him 
by the hand, but could not for the life of me recol- 
lect that I had ever seen him before. Seeing that I 
failed to recognize him, he said : *^ My name is 
Concklin. I knew you at Sandusky, and used to 
know your wife well.'' Still I could not remember 
him. "You knew General Patterson?'' he asked. 
"Yes." "Mary Patterson?" "Yes; I shall never 
forget her." " Do you recollect a stroll down to the 
bay shore one moonlight night?" Of course I re- 
membered it. This was John Concklin, Mary's 
cousin. I remembered very well how he devoted 
himself to one I felt considerable interest in, while 



iS63.] 



OR. MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 259 



his cousin Mary and I talked in a jocular way about 
the cost of housekeeping, both agreeing that it would 
require but a very small sum to set up such an estab- 
lishment as our modest ambition demanded. I was 
heartily glad to meet the young man. He looks very 
different from the smooth-faced boy of ten years ago. 
I was slightly jealous of him then, and I do not 
know but I might have reason to be now, for he is a 
fine, manly fellow. 

At Sc rouge ville — how softly the name ripples on 
the ear! — we were entertained magnificently. Above 
us was the azure canopy ; around us a dense forest of 
cedars, and in a shady nook, a sylvan retreat as it 
were, a barrel of choice beer. The mocking-birds 
caroled from the evergreen boughs. The plaintive 
melody of the dove came to us from over the hills, 
and pies at a quarter each poured in upon us in pro- 
fusion; and such pies ! When night threw over us her 
shadowy mantle, and the crescent moon blessed us 
with her mellow light, the notes of the whip-poor-will 
mingling with the bark of watch-dogs and the bar- 
baric melody of the Ethiopian, floated out on the 
genial air, and, as stretched on the green sward, we 
smoked our pipes and drank our beer, thoughts of 
fairy land possessed us, and we looked wonderingly 
around and inquired, is Scrougeville a reality or a 
vision? I fear we shall never see the like of Scrouge- 
ville again. 

On the morning of the 26th instant I received a 
telegram ordering our immediate return, and we 
reached Murfreesboro at two o'clock p. M. same day. 



260 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER: [April. 

I had not forgotten the terrible scolding received 
from the General just before starting on this expedi- 
tion; in fact, I am not likely ever to forget it. It had 
now been a millstone on my heart for a week. I could 
not stand it. What could I do ? At first I thought 
I would send in my resignation, but that I concluded 
would afford me no relief; on the contrary, it would 
look as if I had been driven out of the army. My 
next impulse was to ask to be relieved from duty in 
this department, and assigned elsewdiere ; but on sec- 
ond thought this did not seem desirable. It would 
appear as if I was running away from the displeas- 
ure of the commanding general, and would affect me 
unfavorably wherever I might go. I felt that if I 
was to blame at all in this matter, it was in a very 
slight degree. The General's language was utterly 
inexcusable. He was a man simply, and I concluded 
finally that I would not leave either the army or the 
department under a cloud. I, therefore, sat down 
and wrote the following letter: 

" MURFREESBORO, April 27, 1863. 
" Major-General W. S. Kosecrans, 

" Commanding Department of the Cumberland : 
" Sir — Your attack upon me, on the morning of 
the 21st instant, has been the subject of thought 
since. I have been absent on duty five days, and, 
therefore, have not referred to it before. It is the 
first time since I entered the army, two years ago, as 
it is the first time in my life, that it has been my mis- 
fortune to listen to abuse so violent and unreasonal)le 



1863] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 261 

as that with which you Avere pleased to favor me in 
the presence of the aids, orderlies, officers, and visit- 
ors, at your quarters. While I am unwilling to rest 
quietly under the disgrace and ridicule which at- 
taches to the subject of such a tirade, I do not ques- 
tion your right to censure when there has been 
remissness in the discharge of duties ; and to such 
reasonable admonition I am ever ready to yield re- 
spectful and earnest attention ; but I know of no 
rule, principle, or precedent, which confers upon the 
General commanding this Department the right to 
address language to an officer which, if used by a pri- 
vate soldier to his company officer, or by a company 
officer to a private soldier, would be deemed dis- 
graceful and lead to the punishment of the one or 
the dismissal of the other. Insisting, therefore, upon 
that right, which I conceive belongs to the private in 
the ranks, as well at to every subordinate officer in 
the army who has been aggrieved, I demand from 
you an apology for the insulting language addressed 
to me on the morning of the 21st instant. 
^^I am, sir, respectfully, 

^^ Your obedient servant, 

^^ John Beatty, Brig.-Gen^l." 

I sent this. Would it be regarded as an act of 
presumption and treated with ridicule and contempt? 
I feared it might, and sat thinking anxiously over 
the matter until my orderly returned, with the envel- 
ope marked "W. S. R./^ the army mode of acknowl- 



262 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

edging receipt of letter or order. Fifteen minutes 
later this reply came : 

" Head-quarters Department of the Cumberland, ] 
" MURFREESBORO, April, 1863. I 

'^My Dear General — I have just received the 
inclosed note, marked " Private/^ but addressed to 
me as commanding the Department of the Cumber- 
land. It compromises you in so many ways that I 
return it to you. I am your friend, and regretted 
that the circumstances of the case compelled me, as a 
commanding officer, to express myself warmly about a 
matter which might have cost us dearly, to one for 
whom I felt so kindly. You w^U report to me in 
person, without delay. 

W, S. Rosecrans, Maj.-Gen'l. 

'^Brig.-Gen'l John Beatty, Fortifications, Stone 
river. 

^^P. S. — It might be well to bring this inclosure 
with you.^' 

The inclosure referred to was, of course, my letter 
to him. The answer was not, by any means, an apol- 
ogy. On the contrary, it assumed that he was justifi- 
able in censuring me as he did, and yet it expressed 
good feeling for me. It was probably written in 
haste, and without thought. It was not satisfactory ; 
but I was led by it to hope that I could reach a point 
which would be. 

I obeyed the order to report promptly. He took 
me into his private office, where we talked over the 



1863.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 263 

whole affair together^. He expressed regret that he 
had not known all the circumstances before, and said, 
in conclusion: *^I am your friend. Some men I like 
to scold, for I don't like them; but I have always 
entertained the best of feeling for you/' Taking me, 
at the close of our interview, from his private office 
into the public room, where General Garfield and 
others were, he turned and asked if it was all right — 
if I was satisfied. I expressed my thanks, shook 
hands with him, and left, feeling a thousand times 
more attached to him, and more respect for him than 
I had ever felt before. He had the power to crush 
me, for at this time he is almost omnipotent in this 
department, and by a simple word he might have 
driven me from the army, disgraced in the estimation 
of both soldiers and citizens. His magnanimity and 
kindness, however, lifted a great load from my spirits, 
and made me feel like a new man ; and I am very 
sure that he felt better and happier also, for no man 
does a generous act to one below him in rank or sta- 
tion, without being recompensed therefor by a feeling 
of the liveliest satisfaction, I may have been too sen- 
sitive, and may not, probably did not, realize fully 
the necessity for prompt action, and the weight of re- 
sponsibility which rested upon the General. There 
are times when there is no time for explanation ; 
great exigencies, in the presence of which lives, for- 
tunes, friendships, and all matters of lesser impor- 
tance must give way ; moments when men's thoughts 
are so concentrated on a single object, and their whole 



264 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [April, 

being so wrought up, that thev can see .nothing, know 
nothing, but the cakiniity they desire to avert, or the 
victory they desire to achieve. Kashville had been 
threatened. To have lost it, or allowed it to be gut- 
ted by the enemy, w^ould have been a great misfor- 
tune to the army, and brought down upon Rosecrans 
not only the anathemas of the War Department, but 
would have gone far to lose him the confidence 
of the whole people. He supposed the enemy^s 
movements had been checked, and was startled and 
thrown off his balance by discovering that they were 
still unopposed. The error Avas attributable in part 
possibly to me, in part to a series of blunders, which 
had resulted from the fact that there were two per- 
sons in the army of the same name and rank, but 
mainly to those who failed to transmit the order in 
proper time. 

29. Oar large tents have been taken away, and 
shelter tents substituted. This evening, when the 
boys crawled into the latter, they gave utterance, 
good-humoredly, to every variety of hoAvl, bark, 
snap, whine, and growl of Avhich the dog is supposed 
to be capable. 

Colonel George Humphreys, Eighty-eighth Indi- 
ana, whom I supposed to be a full-blooded Hoosier, 
tells me he is a Scotchman, and was born in Ayr- 
shire, in the same house in which Robert Burns kad 
birth. His grandfather, James Humphreys, was the 
neighbor and companion of the poet. It was of 
him he wrote this epitaph, at an ale-house, in the way 
of pleasantry : 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 265 

" Below these stanes lie Jamie's banes. 
O ! Death, in my opinion, 
You ne'er took sic a blither'n bitch 
Into thy dark dominion." 

30. This afternoon called on General Thomas; 
met General R. S. Granger; paid my respects to 
General Negley, and stopped for a moment at General 
Rousseau\«i, The latter was about to take a horse- 
back ride with his daughter, to whom I was intro- 
duced. 



266 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 



MAY, 1863 



1. The One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio is at 
Franklin. Colonel Wilcox has resigned; Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Mitchell will succeed to the colonelcy. 
I rode over the battle-field Avith the latter this after- 
noon. 

4. Two men from Breckenridge's command strayed 
into our lines to-day. 

7. Colonels Hobart, Taylor, Nicholas, and Captain 
Nevin spent the afternoon with me. 

The intelligence from Hooker's army is contradict- 
ory and unintelligible. We hope it was successful, and 
yet find little beside the headlines in the telegraphic 
column to sustain that hope. The German regiments 
are said to have behaved badly. This is, probably, 
an error. Germans, as a rule, are reliable soldiers. 
This, I think, is Carl Schurz's first battle ; an un- 
fortunate beginning for him. 

9. The arrest of Yallandingham, we learn from 
the newspapers, is creating a great deal of excite- 
ment in the North. I am pleased to see the au- 
thorities commencing at the root and not among the 
branches. 

I have just read Consul Anderson^s appeal to the j^eo- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 267 

pie of the United States in favor of an extensive rep- 
resentation of American live stock, machinery, and 
manufactures, at the coming fair in Hamburg. Friend 
James made a long letter of it ; and, I doubt not, 
drank a gallon of good Dutch beer after each par- 
agraph. 

11. The Confederate papers say Streight's com- 
mand was surrendered to four hundred and fifty 
rebels. I do not believe it. The Third Ohio would 
have whipped that many of the enemy on any field 
and under any circumstances. The expedition was a 
foolish one. Colonel Harker, who knows Streight 
well, predicted the fate which has overtaken him. 
He is brave, but deficient in judgment. The state- 
ment that his command surrendered to an inferior 
force is, doubtless, false. Forrest had, I venture to 
say, nearer four thousand and fifty than four hundred 
and fifty. The rebels always have a great many men 
before a battle, but not many after. They profess still 
to believe in the one-rebel-to-three- Yankee theory, 
and make their statements to correspond. The facts 
when ascertained will, I have no doubt, show that 
the Union brigade was pursued by an overwhelming 
force, and being exhausted by constant riding, re- 
peated fights, want of food and sleep, surrendered after 
ammunition had given out and all possibility of es- 
cape gone. The enemy is strong in cavalry, and it is 
not at all probable that he would have sent but four 
hundred and fifty men to look after a brigade, which 
had boldly ventured hundreds of miles inside his 
lines. In fact. General Forrest seldom, if ever. 



268 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Mav, 

travels with so small a command as he is said to have 
had on this occasion. 

13. An order has been issued prohibiting women 
from visiting the army. I infer from this that a 
movement is contemplated. 

14. General Negley called to-day, and remained 
for half an hour. He is a large, rosy-cheeked, hand- 
some, aifable man, and a good disciplinarian. 

I am going to have a horse-race in the morning 
with Major McDowell, of Rousseau's staif. Stakes 
two bottles of wine. 

When we entered Murfreesboro, nearly a year ago, 
the boys brought in a lame horse, which they had 
picked up on the road. The horse hobbled along 
with difficulty, and for a long time was used to carry 
the knapsacks and guns of soldiers who were either 
too unwell or too lazy to transport these burdens 
themselves. The horse had belonged to a Texas 
cavalryman, and had been abandoned when so lame 
as to be unfit for service. Finally, when his shat- 
tered hoof got well, he was transferred from the 
hospital department to the quartermaster\s, where he 
became a favorite. The quartermaster called my 
attention to the horse, and I had him appraised and 
took him for my own use. Under the skillful and 
attentive hands of my hostler he soon shook off his 
shaggy coat of ugly brown, and put on one of vel- 
vety black. After a few days of trial T discovered 
not only that he was an easy goer, but had the speed 
of the w^ind. When at his fastest pace he is liable to 
overreach ; it was thus that his left fore hoof had 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 269 

been shatterecL To prevent a recurrence of the acci- 
dent, I keep his hoof protected by leathers. I be- 
lieve he is the fastest horse in the Army of the 
Cumberland. 

15. Major McDowell did not put in an appearance 
until after I had returned from my morning ride. 
He brought Colonel Loomis with him to witness the 
grand affair; but as it was late, we finally concluded 
to postpone the race until another morning. 

Some one has been kind enough to lay on my table 
a handsome bunch of red pinks and yellow roses. 

My staif has been increased, the iate addition be- 
ing '^U. S./^ a large and very lazy yellow dog. The 
two letters which give him his title are branded on 
his shoulder. He sticks very close to me, for the rea- 
son, possibly, that I do not kick him, and say "Get 
out,'' as most persons are tempted to do when they 
look upon his most unprepossessing visage. He is a 
solemn dog, and probably has had a rough row to 
hoe through life. At times, when I speak an encour- 
aging word, he brightens up, and makes an eflPort to 
be playful; but cheerfulness is his forte no more than 
" fiten" was A. Ward's, and he soon relapses into the 
deepest melancholy. 

16. Read Emil Schalk's article on Hooker. It is 
an easy matter for that gentleman to sit in his library, 
plan a campaign, and win a battle. I could do that 
myself; but when we undertake to make the cam- 
paign, fight the battle, and win the victory, we find it 
very much more difficult. Book farmers are wonder- 
fully successful on paper, and show how fortunes may 



270 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May 

be gathered in a single season^ but when they come 
down to practical farming, they discover quite often 
that frost, or rain, or drouth, plays the mischief with 
their theories, and renders them bankrupt. 

It can be demonstrated, doubtless, that a certain 
blow, delivered at a certain place and time, against a 
certain force, will crush it; but does it not require 
infinite skill and power to select the place and time 
with certainty? A broken bridge, swollen stream, or 
even the most trifling incident, which no man can 
foresee or overrule, may disarrange and render futile 
the best-laid plans, and lead to defeat and disaster. 
After a battle we can easily look back and see where 
mistakes have been made ; but it is more difficult, if 
not impossible, to look forward and avoid them. 
War is a blind and uncertain game at best, and who- 
ever plays it successfully must not only hold good 
cards, but piay them discreetly, and under the most 
favorable circumstances. 

17. Starkweather informs me that he has been 
urged to return to Wisconsin and become a candidate 
for governor, and for fear he might accede to the 
wishes of the people in this regard, the present gov- 
ernor was urging his promotion. He is still unde- 
cided whether to accept a brigadier's commission or 
the nomination for this high civil office. Wind. 

18. Two deserters came into our lines to-day. 
They were members of a regiment in Cleburne's 
division, and left their command at Fosterville, ten 
or fifteen miles out. They represent the Southern 
army in our front as very strong, in good condition 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 271 

and fine spirits. The rebel successes on the Rappa- 
hannock have inspired them with new life, and have, 
to some extent, dispirited us. We do not, however, 
buikl largely on the Eastern army. It is an excel- 
lent body of men, in good discipline, but for some 
reason it has been unfortunate. When we hear, there- 
fore, that the Eastern army is going to fight, we make 
up our minds that it is going to be defeated, and when 
the result is announced we feel sad enough, but not 
disappointed. 

19. Generals Rosecrans, Negley, and Garfield, 
with the staffs of the two former, appeared on the 
field where I was drilling the brigade. General Rose- 
crans greeted me very cordially. I am satisfied that 
those who allow themselves to be damned once with- 
out remonstrance are ver}' likely to be damned always. 

I am becoming quite an early riser ; have seen the 
sun rise every morning for two weeks. Saw the 
moon over my right shoulder. Lucky month ahead. 
Am devoting a little more time than usual to my mil- 
itary books. 

Colonel Moody, Seventy-fourth Ohio, has resigned. 

20. This afternoon I received orders to be in 
readiness to move at a moment's notice. 

21. The days now give us a specimen of the four 
seasons. At sunrise it is pretty fair winter for this 
latitude. An hour after, good spring; at noon, mid- 
summer ; at sunset, fall. Flies are top numerous to 
mention even by the million. They come on drill at 
8 A. M., and continue their evolutions until sundown. 

Wilson, Orr, and DuBarry are indisposed. My cast- 



272 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 

iron constitution holds good. As a rule^ I take no 
medicine or medical advice. In a few instances I 
have acceded to the wishes of my friends^ and applied 
to the doctors; but have been careful not to allow 
their prescriptions to get further than my vest 
pocket. 

The colt has just whinnied in response to another 
horse. He is in fine condition ; coat as sleek and 
glossy as that of a bridegroom. Yesterday I rode 
him on drill, and the little scamp got into a quarrel 
with another horse, reared up, and made a plunge 
that came near unseating me. He agrees with Wil- 
son's horse very well, but seems to think it his duty 
to exercise a sort of paternal care over him ; and so 
on all occasions when possible he takes the reins of 
Wilson's bridle between his teeth and holds it tightly, 
as if determined that the speed of the Adjutant's 
horse should be regulated by his own. My black is 
also in excellent condition, and certainly very fast. 
My race has not yet come off. 

23. Received a box of catawba wine and pawpaw 
brandy from Colonel James G. Jones, lialf of which 
I was requested to deliver to General liosecrans, and 
the other half keep to drink to the Colonel's health, 
which at present is very poor. 

Colonel Gus Wood called this afternoon. He is 
one of those who were captnred on the railroad train 
near Lavergne,^ 10th of last April, and has returned 
to camp via Tullahoma, Chattanooga, and Richmond. 
He says the rebel troops are in good condition and 
good spirits; thinks there is an immense force in 



1863.3 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 273 

our front, and that it would not be advisable to ad- 
vance. 

The enlisted men of the Third are at Annapolis, 
Maryland, and will soon be at Camp Chase, Ohio. 
The officers are in Libby. 

The box of cigars presented to me by my old 
friend, W. H. Marvin, still holds out. AVhenever I 
am in a great straight for a smoke I try one ; but I 
have not yet succeeded in finding a good one. I 
affect to be very liberal, and pass the box around 
freely ; but all Avho have tried the cigars once insist 
that they do not smoke. They will probably last to 
the end of the war. 

26. The privates of the Eighty-eighth Indiana 
presented a two-hundred-dollar sword to Colonel 
Humphreys, and the Colonel felt it to be his duty to 
invest the price of the sword in beer for the boys. 

Lieutenant Orr was kind enough to give me a field 
glass. 

Hewitt's Kentucky battery has been assigned to me. 
Colonel Loomis has assumed command of his battery 
again. His commission as colonel was simply a 
complimentary one, conferred by the Governor of 
Michigan. He should be recognized by the War De- 
partment as colonel. No man in the army is better 
entitled to the position. His services at Perry ville 
and Stone river, to say nothing of those in West Vir- 
ginia and North Alabama, would be but poorly 
requited by promotion. 

Hewitt's battery has not been fortunate in the past. 
It was captured at this place last summer, when Gen- 



274 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [May, 

eral T. T. Crittenden was taken^ and lost quite a num- 
ber of men, horses, and one gun, in the battle of Stone 
river. 

28. At midnight orderlies went clattering around 
the camps with orders for the troops to be supplied 
with five days' provisions, and in readiness to march 
at a moment's notice. We expected to be sent away 
this morning, but no orders have yet come to move. 

Mrs. Colonel B. F. Scribner sent me a very hand- 
some bouquet with her compliments. 

Mr. Furay accompanied Yallandigham outside tlie 
Federal lines, and received from him a parting dec- 
laration, written in pencil and signed by himself, 
wherein he claimed that he was a citizen of Ohio and 
of the United States, brought there by force and 
.against his will, and that he delivered himself up as a 
prisoner of war. 

30. Captain Gilbert E. Winters, A. C. S., took tea 
with me. He is as jovial as the most successful man 
in the world, and overruns with small jokes and 
stories, many of which he claims were told him by 
President Lincoln. From this we might infer that 
the President has very little to do but entertain and 
amuse gentlemen, who apply to him for appointments, 
with conversation so coarse that it would be discred- 
itable to a stable boy. 

31. Received a letter from daughter Nellie, a little 
school girl. She " wishes the war was out." So do I. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 275 



JUNE, 1863, 



1. By invitation, the mounted officers of our 
brigade accompanied General Negley to witness the 
review of Rousseau's division. There were quite a 
large number of spectators, including a few ladies. 
I was introduced to General Wood for the first time, 
although I have known him by sight, and known 
of him well, for months. Many officers of Wood^s 
and Negley's divisions were present. After the 
review, and wdiile the troops were leaving the field. 
Colonel Ducat, Inspector-General on General llose- 
crans' staff, and Colonel Harker, challenged me for 
a race. Soon after. Major McDowell, of Rousseau's 
staff, joined the party ; and, while we were getting 
into position for the start. General Wagner, who 
has a long-legged white horse, which, he insisted, 
could beat any thing on the ground, took place in 
the line. McCook, Wood, Loomis, and many others, 
stopped to witness the race. The horses were all 
pacers; it was, in fact, a gathering of the best 
horses in the army, and each man felt confident. 
I was absolutely sure my black would win, and 
the result proved that I was correct. 



276 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; Qune, 

The only time during the race that I was honored 
with the company of my competitors, was at the 
starting; then, I observed, they Avere all up; but a 
half a minute later the black took the lead. The 
old fellow had evidently been on the track before, 
and felt as much interest in the contest as his 
owner. He knew what w^as expected of him, and 
as he went flying over the ground astonished me, 
as he did every body else. Loomis, who professes 
to know much about horses, said to me before the 
race took place, " Your's is a good-looking horse, 
but he can ^t beat McDowell's." Before leaving 
the field, however, he admitted that he had been 
mistaken. My horse Avas quicker of foot than he 
supposed. 

2. Called on Colonel Scribner and Avife, AA'here 
I met also Colonel Griffin and AA'ife; had a long 
conversation about spiritualism, mesmerism, clair- 
voyance, and subjects of that ilk. At night there 
was a fearful thunder-storm. The rain descended 
in torrents, and the peals of thunder Avere, I think, 
louder and more frequent than I CA^er heard before. 

Met Loomis; he had accompanied General Kose- 
crans and others to Avitness the trial of a machine, 
iuA^ented by Wilder, for tearing up railroad tracks 
and injuring the rails in such a manner as to 
render them Avorthless. Hitherto the rebels, Avhen 
they haA'C torn up our railroads, have placed the 
bars crosswise on a pile of ties, set fire to the latter, 
and so heated and bent the rails; but by heating 
them again they could be easily straightened and 



t863.] OR, MEMOIRS OK A VOLUNTEER. 277 

made good. Wilder's instrument twists them so they 
can not be used again. 

The New York Herald, I observe^ refers with 
great severity to General HascalPs administration 
of affairs in Indiana ; saying that ^^ to place such 
a brainless fool in a military command is not simply 
an error, it is a crime. '^ This is grossly unjust. 
Hascall is not only a gallant soldier, but a man of 
education and excellent sense. He has been active, 
and possibly severe, in his opposition to treasonable 
organizations and notoriously disloyal men, whose 
influence was exerted to discourage enlistments and 
retard the enforcement of the draft. Unfortunately, 
in time of civil war, besides the great exigencies 
which arise to threaten the commonwealth, innu- 
merable lesser evils gather like flies about an open 
wound, to annoy, irritate, and kill. Against these the 
law has made no adequate provision. The military 
must, therefore, often interpose for the public good, 
without waiting for legislative authority, or the slow 
processes of the civil law, just as the fireman must 
proceed to batter down the doors of a burning edifice, 
without stopping to obtain the owner's permission to 
enter and subdue the flames. 

3. Our division was reviewed to-day. The spec- 
tators were numerous, numbering among other dis- 
tinguished personages Generals Rosecrans, Thomas, 
Crittenden, Eousseau, Sheridan, and Wood. The 
weather was favorable, and the review a success. 
In the evening, a large party gathered at Negley's 



278 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; QfKE, 

quarters, ^vhere lunch find punch were provided in 
abundance. 

Generals Wood and Crittenden, of the Twenty- 
first Army Corps, claimed that I did not beat AVag- 
ner fairly in the horse-race the other day. I ex- 
pressed a willingness to satisfy them that I could 
do so any day; and, further, that my horse could 
oiit-go any thing in the Twenty-first Corps. The 
upshot of the matter is that we have a race arranged 
for Friday afternoon at four o'clock. 

The party was a merry one ; gentlemen imbibed 
freely. General Rosecrans' face was as red as a 
beet; he had, however, been talking with ladies, 
and being a diffident man, was possibly blushing. 
Wood persisted that the Twenty-first Corps could 
not be beaten in a horse-race, and that Wagner's 
long-legged Avhite was the most wonderful pacer he 
ever saw. Negley seemed possessed with the idea 
that every body was trying to escape, and that it 
Avas necessary for him to seize them by the arm and 
haul them back to the table; he seemed also to be 
laboring under the delusion that his guests would 
not drink unless he kept his eye on them, and forced 
them to do so. Lieutenant-Colonel Ducat, an Irish- 
man of the Charles O'AIalley school, insisted upon 
introducing me to the ladies, but fortunately I was 
sober enough to decline the invitation. Harker, late 
in the evening, thought he discovered a disposition 
on the part of others to play ofP on him; he felt in 
duty bound to empty a full tumbler, while they 
Shirked by taking only half of one, which he affirmed 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 279 

was unfair and inexcusable. General Thomas, after 
sitting at his wine an hour, conversing the while with 
a lady, arose from the table evidently very much 
refreshed, and proceeded to make himself exceedingly 
agreeable. I never knew the old gentleman to be so 
affable, cordial, and complimentary before. 

4. The guns have been reverberating in our front 
all day. I am told that Sheridan's division advanced 
on the Shelbyville road. It is probable that a part, 
if not the whole, of the firing is in his front. 

5. Read the Autobiography of Peter Cartright. 
It is written in the language of the frontier, and pre- 
sents a rough, strong, uneducated man, full of vanity, 
courage, and religious zeal. He never reached the 
fall measure of dignity requisite to a minister of the 
Gospel. There are many amusing incidents in the 
volume, and many tales of adventures with sinners, in 
the cabin, on the road, and at camp meeting, in all of 
which Cartright gets the better of the sons of Belial, 
and triumphs in the Lord. 

8. The One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, Colonel 
Moore, reported to me for duty, so that I have now 
four regiments and a battery. This Colonel Moore 
is the same who was in command at Hartsville, and 
whose regiment and brigade were captured by the 
ubiquitous John Morgan last winter. He has but 
recently returned from the South, where, for a time, 
lie was confined in Libby prison. 

The rebels are still prowling about our lines, but 
making no great demonstrations of power. 

9. Governor (?) Billy Williams, of Indiana, dined 



280 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [June, 

with me to-day; he resides in Warsaw, is a politician, 
a fair speaker, and an inveterate story teller. 

AVilson has been appointed Assistant Adjutant-Gen- 
eral, with the rank of captain. 

13. Had brigade drill in a large clover field, just 
outside the picket line. The men were in fine condi- 
tion, well dressed, and well equipped. I kept them 
on the jump for tAvo hours^ Generals Thomas and 
Negley were present, and were well pleased. I doubt 
if any brigade in the army can execute a greater 
variety of movements than mine, or go through them 
in better style. My voice is excellent, I can make 
myself heard distinctly by a whole brigade, without 
becoming hoarse by hours of exertion. Starkweather 
has the best voice in the army ; he can be heard a 
mile away. 

Our division and brigade flags have been changed 
from light to dark blue. They look almost like a 
black no-quarter flag. 

We have one solitary rooster : he crows early in 
the morning, all day, and through the night if it be 
moonlight. He mounted a stump near my door this 
morning, stood between the tent and the sun, so that 
his shadow fell on the canvas, and crowed for half an 
hour at the top of his voice. I think the scamp knew 
I w^as lying abed longer than usual, and was deter- 
mined to make me get up. He is on the most inti- 
mate terms with the soldiers, and struts about the 
camp with an air of as much importance as if he 
wore shoulder-straps, and had been reared at West 
Point. He enters the boys' tents, and inspects their 



1-863.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 281 

quarters with all the freedom and independence of a 
regularly detailed inspecting officer. He is a fine 
type of the soldier, proud and vain, with a tremend- 
ous opinion of his own fighting qualities. 

16. Had a grand corps drill. The line of troops, 
when stretched out, was over a mile in length. The 
Corps was like a clumsy giant, and hours were re- 
quired to execute the simplest movement. When, 
for instance, we changed front, my brigade marched 
nearly, if not quite, a mile to take position in the 
new line. The waving of banners, the flashing of 
sabers and bayonets, the clattering to and fro of 
muddle-headed aids-de-camp on impatient steeds, the 
heavy rumble of artillery wagons, the blue coats of 
the soldiers, the golden trappings of the field and 
staff, made a grand scene for the disinterested spec- 
tator to look upon ; but with the thermometer rang- 
ing from eighty-five to one hundred, it was hard work 
for the soldier who bore knapsack, haversack, and 
gun, and calculated to produce an unusual amount of 
perspiration, and not a little profanity. Major-Gen- 
eral Thomas guided the immense mass of men, while 
the operations of the divisions were superintended by 
their respective commanders. I fear the brigade and 
regimental commanders profited little by the drill, but 
I hope the major-generals learned something. The 
latter, in their devotion to strategy, have evidently 
neglected tactics, and failed to unravel the mysteries 
of the school of the battalion. 

In the morning, with my division commander, I 
24 



282 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [JtxK, 

called on General Thomas, at his quarters, and had 
the honor to accept from his hands the most abomin- 
able cigar it has ever been my misfortnne to attempt 
to smoke. 

19. The army has been lying here now nearly six 
months. It has of late been kept pretty bnsy. Sun- 
day morning inspections, monthly inspections of 
troops, freqnent inspections of arms and ammunition, 
innumerable drills, and constant picketing. 

Colonel Miller assumes command of a brigade in 

o 

Johnson\s division. Since the troops were at Nash- 
ville he has been commanding what was known as 
the Second Brigade of Negley's division ; but the col- 
onels of the brigade objected to having an imported 
colonel placed over them, and so Miller takes com- 
mand of the brigade to Avhich his regiment is attached. 
He is a brave man and a good officer. Colonel Hark- 
er's brigade has been relieved from duty at the fortifi- 
cations, and is now encamped near us, on the Liberty 
road. 

21. Mrs. Colonel Scribner and Mrs. Colonel Griffin 
stopped at my tent-door for a moment this morning. 
They were on horseback, and each had a child on 
the saddle. They were giving Mrs. Scribner's chil- 
dren a little ride. 

Attended divine service in the camp of the Eighty- 
eighth Indiana, and afterward called for a few min- 
utes on Colonel Moore, of the One Hundred and 
Fourth Illinois. On returning to my quarters I found 
Colonels Hobart and Taylor awaiting me. They Avere 
about to visit Colonel T. P. Nicholas, of the Second 



i863.] 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 283 



Kentucky Cavalry, and desired me to accompany 
tliem. We dined with Colonel Nicholas, and, as is 
the custom, observed the apostolic injunction of tak- 
ino; something for the stomach's sake. Toward even- 
ing we visited the field hospital, and paid our respects 
to Surgeon Finley and lady. Here, much against our 
wills, we were compelled to empty a bottle of sherry. 
On the way to our own quarters Colonel Taylor in- 
sisted upon our calling with him to see a friend, with 
whom we were obliged to take a glass of ale. So 
that it was about dark when we three sober gentlemen 
drew near to our respective quarters. We had become 
immensely eloquent on the conduct of the war, and 
with great unanimity concluded that if Grant were to 
take Vicksburg he would be entitled to our profound- 
est admiration and respect. Hobart, as usual, spoke 
of his State as if it were a separate and independent 
nation, whose sons, in imitation of LaFayette, Kos- 
ciusko and DeKalb, were devoting their best blood to 
the maintenance of free government in a foreign land; 
while Taylor, incited thereto by this eulogy on Wis- 
consin, took up the cudgel for Kentucky, and dwelt 
enthusiastically on the gallantry of her men and the 
unrivaled beauty of her women. 

When I dismounted and turned my horse over to 
the servant, I caught a glimpse of the signal lights on 
the dome of the court-house, and was astonished to 
find just double the usual number, in the act of per- 
forming a Dutch waltz. I concluded that the Signal 
Corps must be drunk. Saddened by the reflection 
that those occupying high places, whose duty it was 



284 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; Qune, 

to let their light shine before men, should be found in 
this condition of hopeless inebriety, I heaved a sigh 
which might have been mistaken by the uncharitable 
for a hic-cough, and lay down to rest. 

23. My colt had a sore eye a day or two ago, but 
it is now getting well. The boys pet him, and by 
pinching him have taught him to bite. I fear they 
will spoil him. I have not ridden him much of late. 
He has a way of walking on his hind legs, for which 
the saddles in use are not calculated, and there is, con- 
sequently, a constant tendency, on the part of the 
rider, to slip over his tail. 

Captain "Wells sent a colored teamster, who had just 
come in, tired and hungry, to his quarters for dinner. 
Simon Bolivar Buckner, who now has charge of the 
commissary and culinary branch of the Captain's es- 
tablishment, was in the act of dining Avhen the team- 
ster entered the tent and seated himself at the table. 
Buckner, astonished at this unceremonious intrusion, 
exclaimed : " AVhat you doin' har, sah ?" ^^De Capin 
tole me fer to come and get my dinnah." ''Hell,'' 
shouted Buckner, ''does de Capin 'spose I'm guiane 
to eat wid ad — n common nigger? Git out'er har, 
till I'm done got through." 

Buckner gets married every time we move camp. 
On last Sunday Captain Wells found him dressed very 
elaborately, in white vest and clean linen, and said to 
him : ^' What's in the wind, Buckner?" '' Gwine to 
be married dis ebening, sah." ^' What time ?" " Five 
o'clock, sah." "Can't spare you, Buckner. Expect 
friends here to dine at six, and want a good dinner 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 285 

gotten up/' ^^ Berry well, sah ; can postpone de 
wedin', sah. Dis'pintment to lady, sah; but it'll be 
all right/' 

24. The note of preparation for a general advance 
sounded late last night. Reynolds moved at 4 A. m.; 
•Rousseau at 7 ; our division will leave at 10. A long 
line of cavalry is at this moment going out on the 
Manchester pike. ^ ^ :j< jK 

Rain commenced falling soon after we left Mur- 
freesboro, and continued the remainder of the day. 
The roads were sloppy, and marching disagreeable. 
Encamped at Big creek for the night; Rousseau and 
Reynolds in advance. 

Before leaving Murfreesboro I handed John Avhat I 
supposed to be a package of tea, and told him to fill 
my canteen with cold tea. On the road I took two 
or three drinks, and thought it tasted strongly of to- 
bacco; but I accounted for it on the supposition that 
I had been smoking too much, and that the tobacco 
taste was in my mouth, and not in the tea. After get- 
ting into camp I drank of it again, when it occurred 
to me that John had neglected to cleanse the canteen 
before putting the tea in, and so I began to scold him. 
" I did clean it, sah," retorted John. " Well, this 
tea," I replied, "tastes very much like tobacco juice." 
" It is terbacker juice, sah." " Why, how is that ?" 
" You gib me paper terbacker, an' tole me hab some 
tea made, sah, and I done jes as you tole me, sah." 
"Why you are a fool, John; did you suppose I 
wanted you to make me tea out of tobacco ?" " Don 



286 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jine, 

know, sail ; clat's what you tole me^ sah ; done jcs as 
you tole me, sah/' 

25. Marched to Hoover's Gap. Heavy skirmish- 
ing in front during the day. Reynolds lost fifteen 
killed, and quite a number wounded. A stubborn 
fight was expected, and our division moved up to 
take part in it; but the enemy fell back. Rain has 
been falling most of the day. A pain in my side 
admonishes me that I should have Avorn heavier 
boots. 

26. Moved to Beech Grove. Cannonading in 
front during the whole day ; but we have now become 
so accustomed to the noise of the guns that it hardly 
excites remark. The sky is still cloudy, and I 
fear Ave shall have more rain to-night. The boys 
are busy gathering leaves and twigs to keep them 
from the damp ground. General Negley's quarters 
are a few rods to my left, and General Thomas' just 
below us, at the bottom of the hill. Reynolds is four 
miles in advance. 

27. We left Beech Grove, or Jacob's Store, this 
morning, at five o'clock, and conducted the wagon 
train of our division through to Manchester. Rose- 
crans and Reynolds are here. The latter took posses- 
sion of the place two or three hours before my 
brigade reached it, and the former came up three 
hours after we had gone into camp. We are now 
twelve miles from Tullahoma. The guns are thun- 
dering off in the direction of Wartrace. Hardie's 
corps was driven from Fairfield this morning. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 287 

My baggage has not come, and I am compelled 
to sleep on the wet ground in a still wetter over- 
coat. 

28. My baggage arrived during the night, and 
this morning I changed my clothes and expected to 
spend the Sabbath quietly; but about 10 A. M. I was 
ordered to proceed to Hillsboro, a place eight miles 
from Manchester, on the old stage road to Chatta- 
nooga. When we were moving out I met Durbin 
Ward, who asked me wdiere I was going. I told 
him. ^^Why,^' said he, "I thought, from the rose in 
your button-hole, that you were going to a wedding.'^ 
"No," I replied; "but I hope we are going to noth- 
ing more serious.'^ 

29. My position is one of great danger, being so 
far from support and so near the enemy. Last night 
my pickets on the Tullahoma road were driven in, 
after a sharp fight, and my command was put in line 
of battle, and so remained for an hour or more; but 
we were not again disturbed. No fires were built, and 
the darkness was impenetrable. 

At noon I received orders to proceed to Bobo's 
Cross-roads, and reach that point before nightfall. 
There were two ways of going there : the one via 
Manchester was comparatively safe, although consider- 
ably out of the direct line ; the other was direct, but 
somewhat unsafe, because it would take me near the 
enemy's front. The distance by this shorter route 
was eleven miles. I chose the latter. It led 
through a sparsely settled, open oak country. Two 



288 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Ji'ne, 

regiments of ^yheGle^'s cavalry had been hovering 
about Hillsboro during the day, evidently Avatching 
our movements. After proceeding about three miles, 
a dash was made upon my skirmish line, which re- 
sulted in the killing of a lieutenant, the capture of 
one man, and the wounding of several others. I in- 
stantly formed line of battle, and pushed forward as 
rapidly as the nature of the ground would admit; 
but the enemy fell back. 

About five o^clock, as we drew near Bobo's, tAvo 
cannon shots and quite a brisk fire of musketry ad- 
vised us that the rebels were either still in posses- 
sion of the Cross-roads or our friends were mistaking 
us for the enemy. I formed line of battle, and or- 
dered the few cavalrymen who accompanied me to 
make a detour to the right and rear, and ascer- 
tain, if possible, who Avere in our front. The 
videttes soon after reported the enemy advancing, 
with a squadron of cavalry in the lead, and I put 
my artillery in position to give them a raking fire 
when they should reach a bend of the road. At 
this moment when life and death seemed to hang 
in the balance, and when we supposed we were in 
the presence of a very considerable, if not an over- 
whelming, force of the enemy, a half-grown hog 
emerged from the woods, and ran across the road. 
Fifty men sprang from the ranks and gave it 
chase, and before order was fully restored, and 
the line readjusted, my cavalry returned with the 
information that the troops in front were our own. 



1863.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 289 

The incidents of the last six days would fill 
a volume; but I have been on horseback so much, 
and otherwise so thoroughly engaged, that I have 
been, and am now, too weary to note them down, 
even if I had the conveniences at hand for so 
doing. 



25 



290 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 



JULY, 1863 



1. My brigade, with a battalion of cavalry at- 
tached, started from Bobo's Cross-roads in the direc- 
tion of Winchester. When one mile out we picked 
up three deserters, who reported that the rebels had 
evacuated Tullahoma, and were in full retreat. Half 
a mile further along I overtook the enemy^s rear 
guard, when a sharp fight occurred between the cav- 
alry, resulting, I think, in very little injury to either 
party. The enemy fell back a mile or more, Avhen he 
opened on us with artillery, and a sharp artillery 
fight took place, which lasted for perhaps thirty 
minutes. Several men on both sides were killed and 
wounded. The enemy finally retired, and taking a 
second position awaited our arrival, and opened on us 
again. I pushed forward in the thick woods, and 
drove him from point to point for seven miles. 
Negley followed with the other brigades of the di- 
vision, ready to support me in case the enemy proved 
too strong, but I did not need assistance. The force 
opposed to us simply desired to retard pursuit; and 
whenever we pushed against it vigorously fell back. 

2. This morning we discover that we bivouacked 
during the night within half a mile of a large force 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 291 

of rebel cavalry and infantry. After proceeding a 
little way, we found the enemy in position on the 
bluffs on the opposite side of Elk river, with his 
artillery planted so as to sweep the road leading to 
the bridge. Halting my infantry and cavalry under 
the cover of the hill, I sent to the rear for an ad- 
ditional battery, and, before the enemy seemed to be 
aware of what we were doing, I got ten guns in 
position on the crest of the hill and commenced 
firing. The enemy\s cavalry and infantry, which up 
to this time had lined the opposite hills, began to 
scatter in great confusion; but we did not have it all 
our own way by any means. The rebels replied with 
shot and shell very vigorously, and for half an hour 
the fight was very interesting; at the end of that 
time, however, their batteries limbered up and left 
on the double quick. In the meantime, I had sent 
a detachment of infantry to occupy a stockade which 
the enemy had constructed near the bridge, and from 
this position good work was done by driving off his 
sharpshooters. We found the bridge partially burned, 
and the river too much swollen for either the men or 
trains to ford it. Rousseau and Bran nan, I under- 
stand, succeeded in crossing at an upper ford, and are 
in hot pursuit. 

3. Repaired the bridge, and crossed the river this 
morning; and are now bivouacking on the ground 
over which the cavalry fought yesterday afternoon — 
quite a number of the dead were discovered in the 
woods and fields. We picked up, at Elk river, an 
order of Brigadier-General AVharton, commanding 



292 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

the troops which have been serving as the rear guard 
of the enemy's column. It reads as follows : 

^^ Colonel Hamar : Eetire the artillery when 
you think best. Hold the position as long as you 
can with your sharpshooters; when forced back, write 
to Crew to that effect. Anderson is on your right. 
Eeport all movements to me on this road. 

'^ Jno. a. Wharton, Brigadier-General. 
'' July 2d, 1863.^' 

I have been almost constantly in the saddle, and 
have hardly slept a quiet three hours since we started 
on this expedition. My brigade has picked up prob- 
ably a hundred prisoners. 

4. At twelve o'clock, noon, my brigade was 
ordered to take the advance, and make the top of 
the Cumberland before nightfall; proceeding four 
miles, we reached the base of the mountain, and 
began the ascent. The road was exceedingly rough, 
and the rebels had made it impassable, for artillery, 
by rolling great rocks into it and felling trees across 
it. The axmen were ordered up, and while they were 
clearing away the obstructions I rode ahead with 
the cavalry to the summit, and some four miles on 
the ridge beyond. In the meantime, General Negley 
ordered the artillery and infantry to return to the 
foot of the mountain, where we are now encamped. 

5. Since we left Murfreesboro (June 24") rain has 
been falling almost constantly; to-day it has been 
coming down in torrents, and the low grounds around 
us are overflowed. 



1863.] 



OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 293 



Rousseau's division is eucamped near us on the 
left, Reynolds in the rear. 

The other day, while sitting on the fence by the 
roadside smoking my pipe, waiting for my troops to 
get in readiness to march, some one cried out, ^^ Here 
is a philosopher,^' and General Reynolds rode up and 
shook my hand very cordially. 

My brigade has been so fortunate, thus far, as to 
win the confidence of the commanding generals. It 
has, during the last week, served as a sort of a cow- 
catcher for Negley's division. At Elk river General 
Thomas rode up, while I was making my dispositions 
to attack the enemy, and approved what I had done 
and was doing. 

We hear that the Army of the East has won. a 
decisive victory in Pennsylvania. This is grand ! It 
will show the rebels that it will not do to put their 
feet on free soil. Now if Grant succeeds in taking 
Yicksburg, and Rosecrans drives Bragg beyond the 
Tennessee, the country will have reason to rejoice 
with exceeding great joy. 

6. An old lady, whose home is on the side of the 
mountain, called on me to-day and said she had not 
had a cup of coffee since the war commenced. She 
was evidently very poor; and, although we had no 
coffee to spare, I gave her enough to remind her 
again of the taste. 

Our soldiers have been making a clean sweep of 
the hogs, sheep, and poultry on the route. For the 
rich rebels I have no sympathy, but the poor we must 
pity. The war cuts off from them entirely the food 



294 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Julv, 

which, in the best of times, they acquire ^vith great 
hibor and difficulty. The forage for the army horses 
and mules, and we have an immense number, consists 
almost wholly of wheat in tlie sheaf — wheat that has 
been selling for ten dollars per bushel in Confederate 
money. I' have seen hundreds of acres of wheat in 
the sheaf disappear in an hour. Rails have been 
burned without stint, and numberless fields of grow- 
ing corn left unprotected. However much suffering 
this destruction of property may entail on the people 
of this section, I am inclined to think the effect will 
be good. It Avill bring them to a realizing sense of 
the loss sustained when they threw aside the protect- 
int^ shield of the old Constitution, and the security 
which they enjoyed in the Union. 

The season's crop of wheat, corn, oats, and hogs 
would have been of the utmost value to the Confeder- 
ate army; when destroyed, there ^vill be nothing in 
middle Tennessee to tempt it back. 

7. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tennesseeans 
have deserted from the Southern army and are now 
wandering about in the mountains, endeavoring to 
get to their homes. They are mostly conscripted men. 
My command has gathered up hundreds, and the 
mountains and coves in this vicinity are said to be 
full of them. 

It rains incessantly. We moved to Decherd. and 
encamped on a ridge, but are now knee-deep in mud 
and surrounded by water. 

This morning a hundred guns echoed among the 
mountain gorges over the glad intelligence from the 



1863.] OR. MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 295 

East and South : Meade' has won a famous victory, 
and Grant has taken Vicksburg. 

Stragglers and deserters from Bragg's army con- 
tinue to come in. It is doubtless unfortunate for the 
country that rain and bad roads prevented our fol- 
lowing up Bragg closely and forcing him to fight in 
the present demoralized condition of his army. We 
would have been certain of a decisive victory. 

9. Dined with General Negley. Colonels Stough- 
ton and Surwell, brigade commanders, were present. 
The dinner was excellent; soups, punch, wine, 
blackberries were on the table; and, to men who for 
a fortnight had been feeding on hard crackers and 
salt pork, seemed delicious. The General got his face 
poisoned while riding through the woods on the 2d 
instant, and he now looks like an old bruiser. 

McCook, whose corps lies near Winchester, called 
while we were at Negley's; he looks, if possible, more 
like a blockhead than ever, and it is astonishing to 
me that he should be permitted to retain command of 
a corps for a single hour. He brought us cheering 
information, however. The intelligence received 
from the East and South a few days ago has been 
confirmed, and the success of our armies even greater 
than first reports led us to believe. 

10. We have a cow at brigade head-quarters. 
Blackberries are very abundant. The sky has 
cleared, but the Cumberland mountains are this 
morning covered by a thin veil of mist. Supply 
trains arrived last night. 

11. We hear nothing of the rebel army. Rose- 



296 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

crans, doubtless, knows its whereabouts, but his 
subordinates do not. A few of the enemy may be 
lingering in the vicinity of Stevenson and Bridge- 
port, but the main body is, doubtless, beyond the 
Tennessee. The rebel sympathizers here acknowl- 
edge that Bragg has been outgeneraled. Our cavalry 
started on the 9th instant for Huntsville, Athens, and 
Decatur, and I have no doubt these places were re-oc- 
cupied without opposition. 

The rebel cavalry is said to be utterly worn out, 
and for this reason has performed a very insignificant 
part in recent operations. 

The fall of Yicksburg, defeat of Lee, and retreat 
of Bragg, will, doubtless, render the adoption of an 
entirely new plan necessary. How long it will take 
to perfect this, and get ready for a concerted move- 
ment, I have no idea. 

12. Our soldiers, I am told, have been entering 
the houses of private citizens, taking whatever they 
saw fit, and committing many outrages. I trust, 
however, they have not been doing so badly as the 
people would have us believe. The latter are all dis- 
posed to grumble; and if a hungry soldier squints 
Avistfully at a chicken, some one is ready to complain 
that the fowls are in danger, and that they are the 
property of a lone woman, a widow, with nothing 
under the sun to eat but chickens. In nine cases out 
of ten the husbands of these lone women are in the 
Confederate army ; but still they are women, and 
should be treated well. 

14. The brigade baker has come up, and will have 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 297 

his oven in operation this afternoon ; so we shall have 
fresh bread again. 

General Rosecrans will allow no ladies to come to 
the front. This would seem to be conclusive that no 
gentlemen will be permitted to go to the rear. 

16. We have blackberries and milk for breakfast, 
dinner, and supper. To-night we had hot ginger- 
bread also. I have eaten too much, and feel uncom- 
fortable. 

Meade's victory has been growing small by degrees 
and beautifully less ; but the success of Grant has im- 
proved sufficiently on first reports to make it all up. 
Our success in this department, although attended 
with little loss of life, has been very gratifying. We 
have extended our lines over the most productive re- 
gion of Tennessee, and have possession also of all 
North Alabama, a rich tract of country, the loss of 
which must be sorely felt by the rebels. 

18. To-night I received a bundle of Northern 
papers, and among others the Union (?) Register. 
While reading it I felt almost glad that I was not at 
home, for certainly I should be very uncomfortable if 
compelled to listen every day to such treasonable at- 
tacks upon the Administration, sugar-coated though 
they be with hypocritical professions of devotion to 
the Union, the Constitution, and the soldier. How 
supremely wicked these men are, who, for their own 
personal advantage, or for party success, use every 
possible means to bring the Administration into dis- 
respect, and withhold from it what, at this time, it so 
greatly needs, the hearty support and co-operation of 



298 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

the people. The simple fact that abuse of the party 
in power encourages the rebels, not only by evincing 
disaffection and division in the North, but by leading 
them to believe, also, that their conduct is justifiable, 
should, of itself, be sufficient to deter honest and 
patriotic men from using such language as may be 
found in the opposition press. The blood of many 
thousand soldiers will rest upon the peace party, and 
certainly the blood of many misguided people at the 
North must be charged to the same account. The 
draft riots of New York and elsewhere these croakers 
and libelers are alone responsible for. After the war 
has ended there wtU be abundant time to discuss the 
manner in which it has been conducted. Certainly 
quarreling over it now can only tend to the defeat and 
disgrace of our arms. 

We hardly hear of politics in the army, and I cer- 
tainly did not dream before that there was so much 
bitterness of feeling among the people in the North. 
Republicans, Democrats, and every body else think 
nearly alike here. I know of none who sympathize 
with the so-called peace party.* It is universally 
damned, for there is no soldier so ignorant that he 
does not know and feel that this party is prolonging 
the war by stimulating his enemies. A child can see 
this. The rebel papers, which every soldier occasion- 
,ally obtains, prove it beyond a peradventure. 

20. Mrs. General Negley, it appears, has been al- 
lowed to visit her husband. Mrs. General McCook is 
said to be coming. 

Received a public document, in which I find all the 



1863.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 299 

reports of the battle of Stone river, and, I am sorry 
to say, .my report is the poorest and most unsatisfac- 
tory of the whole lot. The printer, as if for the pur- 
pose of aggravating me beyond endurance, has, by an 
error of punctuation, transformed what I considered a 
very considerable and creditable action, into an in- 
considerable skirmish. The report should read : 

^' On the second and third days my brigade was in 
front, a portion of the time skirmishing. On the 
night of January 3d, two regiments, led by myself, 
drove the enemy from their breastworks in the edge 
of the woods." 

This appears in the volume as follows : 

" On tlie second and third days my brigade was in 
front a portion of the time. Skirmishing on the 
night of January 3d, two regiments, led my myself, 
drove the enemy from the breastworks in the edge 
of the woods.'' 

Thus, by taking the last word of one sentence and 
making it the first Avord of another, the intelligent 
compositor belittles a night fight for which I thouglit 
my command deserved no inconsiderable credit. I 
regret now that I did not take the time to make an 
elaborate report of the operations of my brigade, de- 
scribing all the terrible situations in Avhich it had 
been placed, and dwelling with special emphasis 
on the courage and splendid fighting^ of the men. In 
contrast with my stupidly modest report, is that of 
Brigadier-General Spears. He does not hesitate to 



300 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; (July, 

claim for his troops all the credit of the night engage- 
ment referred to ; and yet while my men stormed the 
barricade of logs, and cleaned out the woods, his were 
lying on their faces fully two hundred yards in the 
rear, and I should never have known that they were 
even that near the enemy if his raw soldiers had not 
fired an occasional shot into us from behind. If 
General Spears was with his men, he must have 
known that his report of their action on that occasion 
was utterly untruthfuL If, however, as I apprehend, 
he was behind the rifle pits, six hundred yards in 
the rear, he might, like thousands of others, who Avere 
distant spectators of the scene, have honestly con- 
ceived that his troops were doing the lighting. Gen- 
eral Rousseau's report contradicts his statements, 
and in a meager way accords the credit to my regi- 
ments. 

Officers are more selfish, dishonest, and grasping in 
their struggle for notoriety than the miser for gold. 
They lay claim to every thing within reach, whether 
it belongs to them or not. I know absolutely that 
many of the reports in the volume before me are base 
exaggerations — romances, founded upon the smallest 
conceivable amount of fact. They are simply elab- 
orate essays, which seek to show that the author was 
a little braver, a little more skillful in the manage- 
ment of his men, and a little Avorthier than anybody 
else. I know of one officer who has great credit, in 
official reports and in the newspapers, for a battle in 
which he did not participate at all. In fact, he did 
not reach the field until after the enemy had not only 



iS63l OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 301 

been repulsed^ but retired out of sight ; and yet lie 
has not the manliness to correct the error, and give 
the honor to whom it is due. 

21. The day has been a pleasant one. The night 
is delightful. The new moon favors us with just suf- 
ficient light to reveal fully the great oaks, the w^hite 
tents, and the shadowy outline of the Cumberland 
mountains. The pious few of the Eighty-eighth In- 
diana, assembled in a booth constructed of branches, 
are breathing out their devotional inspirations and 
aspirations, in an old hymn which carries us back to 
the churches and homes of the civilized world, or, as 
the boys term it, "God's country.^' 

Katydids from a hundred trees are vigorous and 
relentless in their accusations against poor Katy. 
That was a pleasant conceit of Holmes, "What did 
poor Katy do?'' I never appreciated it fully until I 
came into the country of the katydids. 

Two trains, laden with forage, commissary, and 
quartermaster stores, are puffing away at the depot. 

General Rosecrans will move to Winchester, two 
miles from us, to-morrow. 

No one ever more desired to look again on his wife 
and babies than I; but, alack and alas! I am bound 
with a chain which seems to tighten more and more 
each day, and draw me further and further from where 
I desire to be. But I trust the time will soon come 
when I shall be free again. 

Morgan's command has come to grief in Ohio. I 
trust he may be captured himself. The papers say 
Basil Duke is a prisoner. If so, the spirit of the 



302 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Jllv, 

great raider is in our hands, and it matters but little, 
perhaps, what becomes of the carcass. 

A soldier of the Forty- second Indiana, who ran 
away from the battle of Stone river, had his head 
shaved and was drummed out of camp to-day. David 
Walker, Paul Long, and Charley Hiskett, of the 
Third Ohio, go with him to Nashville, where he is to 
be confined in military prison until the end of 
the war. 

Shaving the head and drumming out of camp is a 
fearful punishment. I could not help pitying the 
poor fellow, as with carpet-sack in one hand and hat 
in the other he marched crest-fallen through the 
camps, to the music of the " Rogue's March.'' Death 
and oblivion would have been less severe and in- 
finitely more desirable. 

25. General Rosecrans, although generally sup- 
posed to be here, has been, it is said, absent for some 
days. It is intimated that he has gone to Washing- 
ton. If it be true, he has flanked the newspaper men 
by a wonderful burst of strategy. He must have 
gone through disguised as an old woman — a very ugly 
old woman with a tremendous nose — otherwise these 
newspaper pickets would have arrested and ])ut him 
in the papers forthwith. They are more vigilant than 
the rebels, and terribly intent upon finding somebody 
to talk about, to laud to the skies, or abuse in the 
most fearful manner, for they seldom do things by 
halves, unless it be telling the truth. They have a 
marvelous distaste for facts, and use no more of them 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOI.UNTEER. 303 

than are absolutely necessary to string their guesses 
and imaginings upon. 

My colt has just whinnied. He is gay as a lark, 
and puts Davy, the hostler, through many evolutions 
unknown to the cavalry service. The other day 
Davy had him out for exercise, and when he came 
rearing and charging back, I said : ^' How does he be- 
have to-day, Davy?^^ ^^ Mighty rambunctious, sah ; 
he's gettin' bad, sah.'' 

Major James Connelly, One Hundred and Twenty- 
third Illinois, called. His regiment is mounted and 
in Wilder's brigade. It participated in the engage- 
ment at Hoover's Gap. When my brigade was at 
Hillsboro, Connelly's regiment accompanied Wilder to 
to this place (Declierd). The veracious correspond- 
ent reported that AVilder, on that expedition, had de- 
stroyed the bridge here and done great injury to the 
railroad, permanently interrupting communication be- 
tween Bridgeport and Tullahoma; but, in fact, the 
bridge was not destroyed, and trains on the railroad 
were only delayed two hours. The expedition suc- 
ceeded, however, in picking up a few stragglers and 
horses. 

26. General Stanley has returned from Iluntsville, 
bringing with him about one thousand North Ala- 
bama negroes. This is a blow at the enemy in the 
right place. Deprived of slave labor, the whites will 
be compelled to send home, or leave at home, white 
men enough to cultivate the land and keep their fam- 
ilies from starving^. 

27. Adjutant AYilson visit^xl Rousseau's division 



304 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [July, 

at Cowan, and reports the return of Starkweather 
from Wisconsin, with the stars. This gentleman has 
been mourning over the ingratitude of Republics ever 
since the battle of Perry ville ; but henceforth he will, 
doubtless, feel better. 

A court-martial has been called for the trial of 
Colonel A. B. Moore, One Hundred and Fourth Illi- 
nois. Some ill-feeling in his regiment has led one of 
his officers to prefer charges against him. 

28. General Thomas is an officer of the regular 
army; the field is his home; the tent his house, and 
war his business. He regards rather coolly, there- 
fore, the applications of volunteer officers for leaves 
of absence. Why should they not be as contented as 
himself? He does not seem to consider that they sud- 
denly dropped business, every thing, in fact, to hasten 
to the field. But, then, on second thought, I incline to 
the opinion that the old man is right. Half the army 
Avould be at home if leaves and furloughs could be 
had for the asking. 

29. Lieutenant Orr received notice yesterday of 
his appointment as captain in the subsistence depart- 
ment, and last night opened a barrel of beer and stood 
treat. I did not join the party until about ten 
o'clock, and then Captain Hewitt, of the battery, the 
story-teller of the brigade, was in full blast, and the 
applause was uproarious. He was telling of a militia 
captain of Fentress county, Tennessee, who called out 
his company upon the supposition that we were again 
at war with Great Britain ; that Washington had been 
captured by the invaders, and the arch-iv-es destroyed. 



t863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 305 

A bystander questioned the correctness of the Cap- 
tain's information, when he became very angry, and, 
producing a newspaper, said: ^'D — n you, sir, do you 
think J can't read, sir?'' The man thus interrogated 
looked over the paper, saw that it announced the oc- 
cupation of Washington by the British, but called the 
attention of the excited militiaman to the fact that 
the date was 1812. ^^So it is," said the old captain; 
^'1 did not notice the date. But, d — n me, sir, the 
paper just come. Go on with the drill, boys." This 
story was told to illustrate the fact that the people of 
many counties in Tennessee were behind the times. 

It would take too much time to refer, even briefly, 
to all the stories related, and I will allude simply to 
a London Ghost Story, which Captain Halpin, an 
Irishman, of the Fifteenth Kentucky, undertook to 
tell. The gallant Captain was in the last stages of 
inebriety, and laid the scene of his London ghost 
story in Ireland. Steadying himself in his seat 
with both hands, and with a tongue rather too 
thick to articulate clearly, he introduced us to 
his ancestors for twenty generations back. It 
was a famous old Irish family, and among the col- 
lateral branches were the O'Tooles, O'Eourkes, and 
O'Flahertys. They had in them the blood of the 
Irish kings, and accomplished marvelous feats in the 
wars of those times. And so we staggered with the 
Captain from Dublin to Belfast, and thence made 
sorties into all the provinces on chase of the London 
ghost, until finally our leader wound up with a yawn 
26 



306 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Ji-i.Y, 

and went to sleep. The party, disappointed at this 
sudden and unsatisfactory termination of the London 
ghost story, took a mug of beer all around, and then 
one gentleman, drunker prol)ably than the others, or 
possibly unwilling, after all the time spent, to allow 
the ghost to escape, punched the Captain in the ribs 
and shouted: ^^ Captain — Captain Halpin, you said it 
was a London ghost story; maybe you'll find the 
ghost in London, for I'll be d — d if it's in L^eland!'^ 
The Captain was too far gone to profit by the sug- 
gestion. 

30. This evening General Rosecrans, on his way 
to AYinchester, stopped for a few minutes at the sta- 
tion. He shook hands with me, and asked how I 
liked the water at the foot of the mountains, and 
about the health of my troops. I told him the water 
was good, and that the boys were encamped on high 
ground and healthy. ^^ Yes," he replied, ^^and we'll 
take higher ground in a few days." 

On the march to Tullahoma I had my brigade 
stretched along a ridge to guard against an attack 
from the direction of Wartrace. General Rosecrans 
passed through my lines, and was making some in- 
quiries, when I stepped out : ^' Hello," said he, '' here 
is the young General himself. You've got a good 
ridge. Who lives in that house? Find a place for 
Negley on your right or left. Send me a map of this 
ridge. How do ye do ?" 

31. Met General Turchin for the first time since 
he was before our court-martial at Huntsville. He 
appeared to be considerably cast down in spirit. He 



18C3.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 307 

had just been relieved from his cavalry command, 
and was on liis way to General Reynolds to take com- 
mand of a brigade of infantry. General Crook, 
hitherto in command of a brigade, succeeds Turchin 
as commander of a division. In short, Crook and 
Turchin just exchange places. The former is a grad- 
uate of the West Point Military Academy, and is an 
Ohio man, who has not, I think, greatly distinguished 
himself thus far. He has been in Western Virginia 
most of the time, and came to Murfreesboro after the 
battle of Stone river. 

General R. B. Mitchell is, with his command, in 
camp a little over a mile from us. He is in good 
spirits, and dwells with emphasis on the length and 
arduousness of the marches made by his troops since 
he left Murfreesboro. The labor devolving upon him 
as the commander of a division of cavalry is tre- 
mendous ; and yet I w^as rejoiced to find his physical 
system had stood the strain well. The wear and tear 
upon his intellect, however, must have been very 
great. 



3Q8 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 



AUGUST, 1863, 



2. Rode with Colonel Taylor to Cowan; dined 
with Colonel Hobart, and spent the day very agreea- 
bly. Eeturning we called on Colonel Scribner, re- 
mained an hour, and reached Decherd after nightfall. 
My request for leave of absence was lying on the 
table approved and recommended by Negley and 
Thomas, but indorsed not granted by Rosecrans. 

General Rousseau has left, and probably will not 
return. The best of feeling has not existed be- 
tween him and the commanding general for some 
time past. Rousseau has had a good division, but 
probably thought he should have a corps. This, 
however, is not the cause of the breach. It has 
grown out of small matters— things too trifling to 
talk over, think of, or explain, and yet important 
enough to create a coldness, if not an open rupture. 
Rosecrans is marvelously popular with the men. 

3. The papers state that General R. B. Mitchell 
has gone home on sick leave. Poor fellow! he must 
have been taken suddenly, for when I saw him, a day 
or two ago, he was the picture of health. It is won- 
derful to me how a fellow as fat as Bob can come the 



i863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 309 

sick dodge so successfully. He can get sick at a 
moment^s notice. 

4. Called on General Thomas ; tlien rode over to 
Winchester. Saw Garfield at department head-quar- 
ters. He said he regretted very much being com- 
pelled to refuse my application for a leave. Told 
him I expected to command this department soon, 
and when I got him and a few others, including 
Rosecrans and Thomas, under my thumb, they would 
obtain no favors. I should insist not only upon 
their remaining in camp, but upon their wives re- 
maining out. 

In company with Colonel Mihalotzy I called on 
Colonel Burke, Tenth Ohio, and drank a coi7])le of 
bottles of wine with him and his spiritual adviser. 
Father O'Higgin. Had a very agreeable time. The 
Colonel pressed us to remain for dinner; but we 
pleaded an engagement, and afterward obtained a very 
poor meal at the hotel for one dollar each. 

The Board for the examination of applicants for 
commissions in colored regiments, of which I have 
the honor to be Chairman, met, organized, and ad- 
journed to convene at nine o'clock to-morrow. Col- 
onel Parkhurst, Ninth Michigan, and Colonel Stanley, 
Eighteenth Ohio, are members. 

I am anxious to go home ; but it is not possible for 
me to get away. Almost every officer in the army 
desires to go, and every conceivable excuse and argu- 
ment are urged. This man is sick ; another's house 
has burned, and he desires to provide for his family; 
another has lawsuits coming off involving large 



olO THE CITIZEN VOLUNTEER; 



[AlGUST, 



suras, and his presence during the trial is necessary to 
save him from great loss; still another has deeds to 
make out, and an immense proi^erty interest to look 
after. 

6. This is the day appointed by the President for 
thanksgiving and prayer. The shops in Winchester 
are closed. 

Colonel Parkhurst has obtained a leave, and will 
go home on Monday. 

7. Captain Wilson and Lieutenant Ellsworth arose 
rather late this morning, and found a beer barrel pro- 
truding from the door of their tent, properly set up on 
benches, with a flaming placard over it: 

"New Gkocery!! 

Wilson & Ellsworth. 

Fresh Beer, 3c. a Glass. 

Give us a call.'^ 

Later in the day a grand presentation ceremony 
took place. All the members of the staff and hang- 
ers-on about head-quarters were gathered under the 
oaks ; Lieutenant Calkins, One Hundred and Fourth 
Illinois, was sent for, and, when he ajipeared. Lieu- 
tenant Ellsworth proceeded to read to him the follow- 
ing letter: 

" Ottow^i, Illinois, July 20, 1 863. 
''Lieutenant W. W. Calkins— ^/r .• Your old 
friends of Ottowa, as a slight testimonial of their re- 
spect for you, and admiration for those chivalrous in- 
stincts which, when the banner of beauty and glory 
was assailed by traitorous legions, induced you to 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 311 

« 

spring unhesitatingly to its defense, have the honor to 
present you a beautiful field-glass. Trusting that, by 
its assistance, you will be able to see through your 
enemies, and ultimately find your way to the arms of 
your admiring feHow-citizens, we have the honor to 
subscribe ourselves, 

"Your most obedient servants, 

" Peter Brown, 

" John Smith, 

" Thomas Jones, and others.'^ 
The box containing the gift was carefully opened, 
and the necks and upper parts of two whisky bot- 
tles, fastened together by a piec€ of wood, taken out 
and delivered in due form to the Lieutenant. He 
seemed greatly surprised, and for a few minutes ad- 
dressed the donors in a very emphatic and uncom- 
plimentary w^ay; but finding this only added to the 
merriment of the party, he finally cooled down, and, 
lifting the field-glass to his eyes, leveled it upon the 
staif, and remarked that they appeared to be thirsty. 
This, of couree, was hailed as undeniable evidence 
that the glass w^as perfect, and Lieutenant Calkins 
was heartily congratulated on his good luck, and on 
the proof which the testimonial afforded of the high 
estimation in which he was held by the people of his 
native town. Many of his brother officers, in their 
friendly ardor, shook him warmly by the hand. 

8. Hewitt's battery has been transferred to the 
Corps of Engineers and Mechanics, and Bridges' 
battery, six guns, assigned to me. I gain two guns 
and many men by the exchange. 



312 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

Our Board grinds away eiglit or nine hours a 
day^ and tarns out about the usual proportion of 
wheat and chaff. The time was when we thought it 
would be impossible to obtain good officers for col- 
ored regiments. Now we feel assured that they will 
have as good, if not better, officers than the white 
regiments. From sergeants applying for commissions 
we are able to select splendid men; strong, healthy, 
Avell informed, and of considerable military expe- 
rience. In fact, we occasionally find a non-commis- 
sioned officer who is better qualified to command a 
regiment than nine-tenths of the colonels. I certainly 
know colonels who could not obtain a recommenda- 
tion from this Board for a second lieutenancy. 

Saw General Garfield yesterday ; he was in bed 
sick. I have no fears of his immediate dissolution ; 
in fact, I think he could avail himself of a twenty- 
day leave. I know if I Avere no worse than he ap- 
pears to be, I would, with the permission of the gen- 
eral commanding, undertake to ride the whole distance 
home on horseback, and swim the rivers. In a little 
over a week I think my wife would see me, and the 
black horse, followed by the pepper-and-salt colt, 
charging up to the front door in such style as would 
remind her of the days of chivalry and the knights 
of the olden time. I should cry out in thunder tones, 
^'Ho! within! Unbar the door!'' The colt would 
kick up his heels Avith joy at sight of the grass in the 
yard, while the black would champ his bit with im- 
patience to get into a comfortable stall once more. 



1863.J OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 313 

Altogether the sight would be worth seeing; but it 
will not be seen. 

The Board liolds its sessions in the office of an hon- 
orable Mr. Turney, who left on our approach for a 
more congenial clime, and left suddenly. His letters 
and papers are lying around us in great confusion and 
profusion. Among these we have discovered a docu- 
ment bearing the signatures of Jeff. Davis, John 
Mason, Pierre Soule, and others, pledging themselves 
to resist, by any and every means, the admission of 
California, unless it came in with certain boundaries 
which they prescribed. The document was gotten up 
in Washington, and Colonel Parkhurst says it is the 
original contract. 

Dined with Colonel D. H. Gilmer, Thirty-eighth, 
Illinois. Dinner splendid ; corn, cabbage, beans ; 
peach, apple, and blackberry pie; with buttermilk and 
sweetmilk. It was a grand dinner, served on a snow- 
Avhite table-cloth. Where the Colonel ootained all 
these delicacies I can not imagine. He is an out-and- 
out Abolitionist, and possibly the negroes had favored 
him somewhat. 

Colonel Gilmer is delighted to find the country 
coming around to his ideas. He believes the Lord, 
who superintends the affairs of nations, will give us 
peace in good time, and that time will be when the 
institution of slavery has been rooted up and de- 
stroyed. He is a Kentuckian by birth, and says he 
has kin folks every -where. He is the only man he 
knows of who can find a cousin in everv town he eroes to. 
27 



314 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

9. Dined with Colonel Taylor. Colonels Hobart, 
Nicholas, and Major Craddock were present. After 
dinner we adjourned to my quarters, where we spent 
the afternoon. Hobart dilated upon his adventures at 
New Orleans and elsewhere, under Abou Ben Butler. 
He says Butler is a great man, but a d — d scoundrel. 
I have heard Hobart say something like this at least 
a thousand times, and am pleased to know that his 
testimony on this point is always clear, decisive, and 
uncontradictory. 

My visitors are gone. The cars are bunting against 
each other at the depot. The katydids are piping 
away on the old, old story. The trees look like great 
shadows, and unlike the substantial oaks they really 
are. The camps are dark and quiet. This is all I can 
say of the night withoiit. 

In a little booth made of cedar boughs is a table, 
on which sputters a solitary tallow candle, in a stick 
not remarkable for polish. This light illuminates the 
booth, and reveals to the observer — if there be one, 
which is very unlikely, for those who usually observe 
have in all probability retired — a wash basin, a news- 
paper, a penknife, which originally had two blades, 
but at present has but one, and that one very dull, a 
gentleman of say thirty, possibly thirty-five, two 
steel pens, rusty with age, an inkstand, and one 
miller, which miller has repeatedly dashed his head 
against the wick of the candle and discovered that 
the operation led to unsatisfactory results. Wearied, 
disappointed, and disheartened, the miller now sits 
quietly on the table, mourning, doubtless, over the 



x863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 315 

unpleasant lesson which experience has taught him. 
His head is now wiser; but, alas! his wings are 
shorter than they were, and of what use is his head 
without wings? He feels very like the man who made 
a dash for fame, and fell wounded and bleeding on 
the field, or the child who, for the first time, discov- 
ers that all is not gold that glitters. The gentleman 
referred to — and I trust it may be no stretch of the 
verities to call him a gentleman — leans over the table 
writing. He has an abundant crop of dark hair on 
his head, under his chin, and on his u])per lip. He 
is not just now troubled with a superabundance of 
flesh, or, in other words, no one would suspect him of 
being fat. On the contrary, he might remind one 
of the lean kine, or the prodigal son who bad been 
feeding on husks. He is wide awake at this late hour 
of the night, from which I conclude he has slept more 
or less during the day. No one, to look at this gen- 
tleman, would take him to be a remarkable man; in 
fact, his most intimate friends could not find it in 
their hearts to bring such an accusation against him. 
His face is browned by exposure, and his blue eyes 
look quite dark, or would do so if there were suffi- 
cient light to see them. When he straightens up — 
and he generally straightens when up at all — he is 
five feet eleven, or thereabouts; His appetite is good, 
and his education is of that superior kind which ena- 
bles him, without apparent effort, to misspell three- 
fourths of the words in the English language ;' in 
fact, at this present moment he is holding an imag- 
inary discussion with his wife, who has written him 



21Q THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

that the underclothing for gentlemen\s feet should be 
spelled s-o-c-k-s, and not ^^s-o-x.^' He begs leave to 
differ with her, Avhich he would probably not dare to do 
were she not hundreds of miles away; and he argues 
the matter in this way : S-o-x, o-x, f-o-x— the termina- 
tion sounds alike in all. Kow how absurd it would be 
to insist that ox should be spelled o-c-k-s, or fox 
f-o-c-k-s. The commonest kind of sense teaches one 
that the old lady is in error, and " sox '' clearly correct. 
Much learning hath evidently made her mad. Having 
satisfied himself about this matter, he takes a photo- 
graph from an inside pocket; it is that of his wife. 
He makes another dive, and brings out one of his 
children; then he lights a laurel-wood pipe, and, as 
the white smoke curls about his head and vanishes, 
his thoughts skip off five hundred miles or less, to a 
community of sensible, industrious, quiet folks, and 
w^hen he finally awakes from the reverie and looks 
about him upon the beggarly surroundings— he 
does not swear, for he bethinks him in time that 
swearing would do no good. 

10. Colonel Hobart, Twenty-first Wisconsin, and 
Colonel Hays, Tenth Kentucky, have been added to 
the Board — the former at my request. 

11. To-day I dined with a Wisconsin friend of 
Colonel Hobart's ; had a good dinner, Scotch ale and 
champagne, and a very agreeable time. Colonel Hegg, 
the dispenser of hospitalities, is a Norwegian by birth, 
a Eepublican, a gentleman who has held important 
public positions in AVisconsin, and who stands w^ell 
Avith the people. In the course of the table talk I 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 817 

learned something of the history of my friend Ho- 
bart. He is an old wheel-horse of the Democratic 
party of his State; was a candidate for governor a 
few years ago, and held joint debates with Randall 
and Carl Scliurz. He is the father of the Homestead 
Law, which has been adopted by so many States, and 
was for many years the leader of the House of Rep- 
resentatives of Wisconsin. All this I gathered from 
Colonel Hegg, for Hobart seldom, if ever, talks about 
himself. I imagine that even the most polished 
orator would obtain but little, if any, advantage over 
Hobart in a discussion before the people. He has the 
imagination, the information, and the oratorical fury 
in discussion Avhich are likely to captivate the masses. 
He was at one time opposed to arming the negroes; 
but now that lie is satisfied they Avill fight, he is in 
favor of using them. 

To-night Colonels Hays and Hobart held quite an 
interesting debate on the policy of arming colored 
men, and emancipating those belonging to rebels. 
Hays, who, by the way, is an honest man and a gal- 
lant soldier, presented the Kentucky view of the mat- 
ter, and his arguments, evidently very Aveak, were 
thoroughly demolished by Hobart. I think Colonel 
Hays felt, as the controversy progressed, that his 
position was untenable, and that his hostility to the 
President's proclamation sprang from the prejudice in 
which he had been educated, rather than from reason 
and justice. 

12. Old Tom, known in camp as the veracious 
nigger, because of a ^'turkle" story which he tells, is 



318 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER' 



[August, 



just coming along as I wait a moment for the break- 
fast bell. The " turkle/^ which Tom caught in some 
creek in Alabama, had two hundred and fifty eggs in 
*^him." " Yas, sah, two hunder an* fifty/' 

Tom has peculiar notions about certain matters, and 
they are not, by any means, complimentary to the 
white man. He says: " It jus' 'pears to me dat Adam 
was a black man, sah, an' de Lord he scar him till he 
got white, cos he was a sinner, sah." 

"Tom, you s^'oundrel, how dare you slander the 
white man in that way?" 

"'Pears to me dat way; hab to tell de truf, sah; 

dat's my min'. Men was 'riginally black; but de 
Lord he scare Adam till he got white ; dat 's de rea- 
sonable supposition, sah. Do a man's har git black 
when he scared, sah ? No, sah, it gits white. Did 
you ebber know a man ter get black when he's scard, 
sah ? No, sah, he gits white." 

" That does seem to be a knock-down argument, 
Tom." 

" Yas, sah, I've argied with mor'n a hunder white 
men, sah, an' they can't never git aroun dat pint. 
When yer strip dis subjec ob prejdice, an' fetch to bar 
on it de light o' reason, sah, yer can 'rive at but one 'elu- 
sion, sah. De Lord he rode into de garden in chariot 
of fire, sah, robed wid de lightnin', sah, thunder bolt 
in his han', an' he cried Adam, in de voice of a airth- 
quake, sah, an' de 'fee on Adam was powerful, sah. 
Dat's my min', sah." And so Tom goes on his way, 
confident that the first man was black, and that an- 
other white man has been vanquished in argument. 



x863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 319 

13. The weather continues oppressively hot. The 
names of candidates for admission to the corps 
(TAfrique continue to pour in. The number has 
swelled to eight hundred. We begin our labors at 
nine, adjourn a few minutes for lunch, and then con- 
tinue our work until nearly six. 

16. AYe move at ten o'clock A. M. Had a heavy 
rain yesterday and a fearful wind. The morning, 
however, is clear, and atmosphere delightful. 

Our Board has examined one hundred and twenty 
men. Perhaps forty have been recommended for 
commissions. 

The present movement will, doubtless, be a very 
interesting one. A few days will take us to the Ten- 
nessee, and thereafter we sliall operate on new ground. 
Georgia will be within a few miles of us, the long- 
suffering and long-coveted East Tennessee on our left, 
Central Alabama to our front and right. A great 
struggle will undoubtedly soon take place, for it is 
not possible that the rebels will give us a foothold 
south of the Tennessee until compelled to do it. 

21. We are encamped on the banks of Crow creek, 
three miles northerly from Stevenson. The table on 
which I write is under the great beech trees. Col- 
onel Hobart is sitting near studying Casey. The 
light of the new moon is entirely excluded by foliage. 
On the right and left the valley is bounded by ranges 
of mountains eight hundred or a thousand feet high. 
Crow creek is within a few feet of me; in fict, the 
sand under my feet was deposited by its waters. The 
army extends along the Tennessee, from opposite 



320 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

Chattanooga to Bellefonte. Before us, and just be- 
yond the river, rises a green-mountain wall, whose 
summit, apparently as uniform as a garden hedge, 
seems to mingle with the clouds. Beyond this are 
the legions of the enemy, whose signal lights Ave see 
nightly. 

22. Our Board has resumed its sessions at the 
Alabama House, Stevenson. The weather is intensely 
hot. Father Stanley stripped oif his coat and 
groaned. Hobart's face was red as the rising sun, 
and the anxious candidates for commissions did not 
certainly resemble cucumbers for coolness. 

Hobart rides a very poor horse — poor in flesh, I 
mean ; but he entertains the most exalted opinion of 
the beast. This morning, as we rode from camp, I 
thought I would please him by referring to his horse 
in a complimentary way. Said I: "Colonel, your 
horse holds his own mighty well.^' His face bright- 
ened, and I continued : " He hasn't lost a bone since 
I have known him.'^ This nettled him, and he began 
to badger me about an unsuccessful attempt which I 
made some time ago to get him to taste a green per- 
simmon. Hobart has a good education, is fluent in 
conversation, and in discussion gets the better of me 
without difficulty. All I can do, therefore, is to 
watch my opportunity to give him an occasional 
thrust as best I can. Father Stanley is slow, desti- 
tute of either education or wit, and examines appli- 
cants like a demagogue fishes for votes. 

Brigadier-General Jeff. C. Davis and Colonel Hegg 
called to-day. Davis is, I think, not quite so tall as I 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 321 

am, but a shade heavier. Met Captain Gaunther. 
He has been relieved from duty here, and ordered to 
Washington. He is an excellent officer, and deserves 
a higher position than he holds at present. I thought, 
from the very affectionate manner with which he 
clung to my hand and squeezed it, that possibly, in 
taking leave of his friends, he had burdened himself 
with that " oat ^' which is said to be one too many. 
Hobart says that Scribner calls him Hobart up to 
two glasses, and further on in his cups ycleps him 
Hogan . 

Wood had a bout with the enemy at Chattanooga 
yesterday ; he on the north side and they on the 
south side of the river. Johnson is said to have rein- 
forced Bragg, and the enemy is supposed to be strong 
in our front. Rosecrans was at Bridgeport yesterday 
looking over the ground, when a sharpshooter blazed 
away at him, and put a bullet in a tree near which 
the General and his son were standing. 

24. Deserters are coming in almost every day. 
They report that secret societies exist in the rebel 
army whose object is the promotion of desertion. 
Eleven men from one company arrived yesterday. 
Not many days ago a Confederate officer swam the 
river and gave himself up. For some time past the 
pickets of the two armies have not been firing at each 
other ; but yesterday the rebels gave notice that they 
should commence again, as the "Yanks were becom- 
ing too d — n thick.'' 

26. To-day we were examining a German who de- 
sired to be recommended for a field officer. " How 



322 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

do you form an oblique square, sir?'^ "Black square? 
Black squcre?'' exclaimed the Dutchman; ''I dush 
not know vot you means by de black square/' 

As I write the moon shines down upon me through 
an opening in the branches of the beech forest in 
which w^e are encamped, and the objects about me, 
half seen and half hidden, in some way suggest the 
half-remembered and half-forgotten incidents of 
childhood. 

How often, when a boy, have I dreamed of scenes 
similar to those through which I have passed in the 
last two years ! Knightly warriors, great armies on 
the march and in camp, the skirmish, the tumult and 
thunder of battle, were then things of the imagina- 
tion; but now they have become familiar items of 
daily life. Then -a single tap of the drum or note of 
the bugle awakened thoughts of the old times of chiv- 
alry, and regrets that the days of glory had passed 
away. Now we have martial strains almost every 
hour, and are reminded only of the various duties of 
our every- day life. 

As we went to Stevenson this morning, Hobart 
caught a glimpse of a colored man coming toward us. 
It suggested to him a hobby which he rides now 
every day, and he commenced his oration by saying, 
in his declamatory way : " The negro is the coming 
man." " Yes,'' I interrupted, '^ so I see, and he ap- 
pears to have his hat full of peaches f and so the 
coming man had. 

28. Rode to the river wnth Hobart and Stanley. 
The rebel pickets were lying about in plain view on 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 323 

the other side Just before our arrival quite a num- 
ber of them had been bathing. The outposts of the 
two armies appear still to be on friendly terms. 
^' Yesterday/' a soldier said to me, " one of our boys 
crossed the river, talked with the rebs for some time, 
and returned." 

29. The band is playing " Yankee Doodle,'^ and 
the boys break into an occasional cheer by way of 
indorsement. There is something defiant in the air 
of "Doodle" as he blows away on the soil of the cav- 
liers, which strikes a noisy chord in the breast of 
Uncle Sam's nephews, and the demonstrations which 
follow are equivalent to "Letter rip," "Go in old 
boy." 

Colonel Hobart's emphatic expression is "egad." 
He told me to-day of a favorite horse at home, which 
would follow him from place to place as he worked 
in the garden, keeping his nose as near to him as pos- 
sible. His wife remarked to him one day :" Egad, 
husband, if you loved me as well as you do that 
horse, I should be perfectly happy." 

"Are you quite sure sure Mrs. Hobart said ^egad,' 
Colonel?" 

"Well, no, I would n't like to swear to that." 

This afternoon Colonels Stanley, Hobart, and I 
rode down to the Tennessee to look at the pontoon 
bridge which has been thrown across the river. On 
the way we met Generals Rosecrans, McCook, Negley, 
and Garfield. The former checked up, shook hands, 
and said : " How d' ye do ?" Garfield gave us a grip 



324 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Aijgcst, 

^vhicli suggested ^'vote right, vote early." Negley 
smiled alfably, and the cavalcade moved on. y\e 
crossed the Tennessee on the bridge of boats, and 
rode a few miles into the country beyond. Not a gun 
was iired as the bridge was being laid. Davis' 
division is on the south side of the river. 

The Tennessee at this place is beautiful. The 
bridge looks like a ribbon stretched across it. The 
island below, the heavily-wooded banks, the bluffs 
and mountain, present a scene which would delight 
the soul of the artist. A hundred boys were frol- 
licking in the water near the pontoons, tumbling 
into the stream in all sorts of ways, kicking up their 
heels, ducking and splashing each other, and having 
a glorious time generally. 

30. (Sunday.) The brigade moved into Stevenson. 

31. It crossed the Tennessee. 

In one of the classes for examination to-day was a 
sergeant, fifty years old at least, but still sprightly 
and active ; not very well posted in the infantry 
tactics now in use, but of more than ordinary intelli- 
gence. The class had not impressed the Board favor- 
ably. This Sergeant we thought rather too old, and 
the others entirely too ignorant. When the class was 
told to retire, this old Sergeant, who, by the way, 
belongs to a Michigan regiment, came up to me and 
asked: ''Was John Beatty, of Sandusky, a relative 
of yours?" "He wns my grandfather." "Yes, 
you resemble your mother. You are the son of 
James Beatty. I have carried you in my arms 



xUs.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 325 

many a time. My mother saved your life more than 
once. Thirty years ago your father and mine were 
neighbors. I recollect the cabin where you were 
born as well as if I had seen it but yesterday.'- " I 
am heartily glad to see you, my old friend/* 
said I, taking his hand. " You must stay with 
me to-night, and we will talk over the old times 
together.'' 

When the Sergeant retired, Hobart, with a twinkle 
in his eye, said he did not think much of that fellow; 
his early associations had evidently been bad; he was 
entirely too old, anyway. What the army needed, 
above all things, were young, vigorous, dashing 
officers; but he supposed, notwithstanding all this, 
that we should have to do something for the Ser- 
geant. He had rendered important service to the 
country by carrying the honored President of our 
Board in his arms, and but for the timely doses of 
catnip tea, administered by the Sergeant's mother, 
the gallant knight of the black horse and pepper- 
and-salt colt would have been unknown. *^What do 
you say, gentlemen, to a second lieutenantcy for Gen- 
eral Beatty's friend?" 

'^ I shall vote for it," replied Stanley. 

" Becommend him for a first lieutenancy," I sug- 
gested ; and they did. 

In the evening I had a long and very pleasant 
conversation with the Sergeant. He had fought un- 
der Bradley in the Patriot war at Point au Pelee ; 
served five years in the regular army during the 



326 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [August, 

Florida war, and two years in the Mexican war. 
His name is Daniel Rodabaugh. He has been in 
the United States service as a soldier for nine 
years, and richly deserves the position for which we 
recommended him. 



1863-] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 327 



SEPTEMBER, 1863. 



1. Closed up the business of the Board, and at 
seven o'clock in the evening (Tuesday) left Stevenson 
to rejoin the brigade. On the way to the river I 
passed Colonel Stanley's brigade of our division. The 
air was thick with dust. It was quite dark when I 
crossed the bridge. The brigade had started on the 
march hours before, but I thought best to push on 
and overtake it. After getting on the wrong road 
and riding considerably out of my way, I finally 
found the right one, and about ten o'ch)ck overtook 
the rear of the column. The two armies will face 
each other before tlie end of the week. General 
Lytle's brigade is bivouacking near me. I have a 
bad cold, but otherwise am in good health. 

3. We moved from Moore's Spring, on the Ten- 
nessee, in the morning, and after laboring all day 
advanced less than one mile and a quarter. We were 
ascending Sand mountain ; many of our wagons did 
not reach the summit. 

4. With two regiments I descended into Lookout 
valley and bivouacked at Brown's Springs about 
dark. Our transportation, owing to the darkness and 
extreme badness of the roads, vemained on the top of 



328 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

the mountain. I have no blankets, and nothing to 
eat except one ear of corn which one of the colored 
boys roasted for me. Wrapped in my overcoat, about 
nine o'clock, I lay down on the ground to sleep; but 
a terrible toothache took hold of me, and I was com- 
pelled to get up and find such relief as I could in 
walking up and down the road. The moon shone 
brightly, and many camp-fires glimmered in the valley 
and along the side of the mountain. It was three 
o'clock in the morning before gentle sleep made me 
oblivious to aching teeth and head, and all the other 
aches which had possession of me. 

5. A few deserters come in to us, but they bring 
little information of the enemy. We are now in 
Georgia, twenty miles from Chattanooga by the direct 
road, which, like all roads here, is very crooked, and 
difficult to travel. The enemy is, doubtless, in force 
very near, but he makes no demonstrations and retires 
his pickets without firing a gun. The developments 
of the next week or two will be matters for the 
historian. 

Sheridan's division is just coming into the valley ; 
what other troops are to cross the mountain by this 
road I do not know. As I write, heavy guns are 
heard off in the direction of Chattanooga. The roads 
are extremely dusty. This morning I consigned to 
the flames all letters which have come to me during 
the last two months. 

I have just returned from a ride up the valley to 
the site of the proposed iron works of Georgia. 
Work on the railroad, on the mountain roads, and on 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 329 

the furnaces^ was suspended on our approach. The 
negroes and white hiborers were run off to get them 
beyond our reach. The hills in the vicinity of the 
proposed works are undoubtedly full of iron; the on. 
crops out so plainly that it is visible to all passers. 
Here the Confederacy proposed to supply its railroads 
with iron rail, an article at present very nearly ex- 
hausted in the South. Had the Georgians possessed 
common business sense and common energy, extensive 
furnaces would have been in operation in this valley 
years ago; and now, instead of a few jioorly culti- 
vated corn-fields, with here and there a cabin, the 
valley and hillsides would be overflowing with popu- 
ulation and wealth. 

We returned from the site of the iron works by 
way of Trenton, the seat of justice of Dade county. 
Reynolds and Sheridan are encamped near Trenton. 
I feel better since my ride. 

6. (Sunday.) Marched to Johnson's Crook, and 
bivouacked, at nightfall, at McKay's Spring, on the 
north side of Lookout mountain ; here my advance 
regiment, the Forty-second Indiana, had a slight 
skirmish with the enemy, in which one man was 
wounded. 

7. We gained the summit of Lookout mountain, 
and the enemy retired to the gaps on the south side. 

8. Started at four o'clock in the morning and 
pushed for Cooper's Gap. Surprised a cavalry picket 
at the foot of the mountain, in McLemore's Cove, 
Chattanooga valley. In this little affair we captured 

28 



330 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

five sabers, one revolver, one carbine, one prisoner, 
and seriously wounded one man. 

While standing on a peak of Lookout, we saw far 
off to the east long lines of dust trending slowly to 
the south, and inferred from this that Bragg had 
abandoned Chattanooga, and was either retiring before 
us or making preparations to check the center and 
right of our line. 

9. Marched up the valley to Stephen's Gap and 
rejoined the division. 

10. Our division marched across McLemore's Cove 
to Pigeon mountain, found Dug Gap obstructed, and 
the enemy in force on the right, left, and front. The 
skirmishers of the advance brigade. Colonel SurwelPs, 
were engaged somewhat, and during the night in- 
formation poured in upon us, from all quarters, that the 
enemy, in strength, was making dispositions to sur- 
round and cut us off before reinforcements could arrive. 

11. Two brigades of Baird's division joined us 
about 10 A. M. Five thousand of the enemy's cavalry 
were reported to be moving to our left and rear; soon 
after, his infantry appeared on our right and left, and, 
a little later, in our front. From the summit of 
Pigeon mountain, the rebels could observe all our 
movements, and form a good estimate of our entire 
force. Our immense train, swelled now by the trans- 
portation of Baird's division to near four hundred 
wagons, compelled us to select such positions as would 
enable us to protect the train, and not such as were 
most favorable for making an offensive or defensive 
fight. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 331 

It was now impossible for Brannan and Reynolds 
to reach us in time to render assistance. General 
Negley concluded, therefore, to fall back, and ordered 
me to move to Bailey's Cross-roads, and await the 
passage of the wagon train to the rear. The enem}^ 
attacked soon after, but were held in check, until the 
transportation had time to return to Stephens* Gap. 

12. We expected an attack this morning, but, 
reinforcements arriving, the enemy retired. This 
afternoon Brannan made a reconnoissance, but the 
result I have not ascertained; there was, however, no 
fighting. 

I am writing this in the woods, where we are 
bivouacking for the night. For nearly two weeks, 
now, I have not had my clothes off; and for perhaps 
not more than two nights of the time have I had 
my boots and spurs off. I have arisen at three 
o'clock in the morning and not lain down until ten 
or eleven at night. My appetite is good and health 
excellent. Last night my horse fell down with me, 
and on me, but strange to say only injured himself. 

We find great numbers of men in these mountains 
who profess to be loyal. Our army is divided — Crit- 
tenden on the left, our corps (Thomas) in the center, 
and McCook far to the right. The greatest danger 
we need apprehend is that the enemy may concentrate 
rapidly and fight our widely separated corps in detail. 
Our transportation, necessarily large in any case, but 
unnecessarily large in this, impedes us very much. 
The roads up and down the mountains are extremely 
bad; our progress has therefore been slow, and the 



332 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

marcli hither a tedious one. The brigade lies in the 
open field before me in battle line. The boys have 
had no time to rest during the day, and have done 
much night work, but they hold up well. A katydid 
has been very friendly with me to-night, and is now 
sitting on the paper as if to read what I have written. 

17. Marched from Bailey's Cross-roads to Owens- 
ford on the Chickamauga. 

18. Ordered to relieve General Hazen, Avho held 
position on the road to Crawfish Springs; but as he 
had received no orders, and as mine Avere but verbal, 
he declined to move, and I therefore continued my 
march and bivouacked at the springs. 

About midnight I was ordered to proceed to a ford 
of the Chickamauga and relieve a brigade of Palmer's 
division, commanded by Colonel Grose. The night 
was dark and the road crooked. About two in the 
morning I reached the place; and as Colonel Grose's 
pickets were being relieved and mine substituted, 
occasional shots along the line indicated that the 
enemy was in our immediate front. 

CHICKAMAUGA. 

19. At an early hour in the morning the enemy's 
pickets made their appearance on the east side of the 
Chickamauga and engaged my skirmishers. Some 
hours later he opened on us with two batteries^ and 
a sharp artillery fight ensued. During this engage- 
ment, the Fifteenth Kentucky, Colonel Taylor, occu- 
pied an advanced position in the woods on the low- 
ground, and the shots of the artillery passed immedi- 



1863] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 333 

ately over it. I rode down to this regiment to see that 
the men were not disturbed by the furious cannonad- 
ing, and to obtain at the same time a better view of the 
enemy. AVhile thus absent, Captain Bridges, concluding 
that the Confederate guns were too heavy for him, lim- 
bered up and fell back. Hastening to the hill, I sent 
Captain Wilson with an order to Bridges to return ; 
and, being reinforced soon after by three pieces of 
Shultz's First Ohio Battery, we opened again on the 
advancing columns of the enemy, when they fell back 
precipitately, evidently concluding that the lull in 
our firing and withdrawal of. our artillery were simply 
devices to draw them on. 

In this affair eight men ot the infantry were 
wounded; and Captain Bridges had two men killed, 
nine wounded, and lost twelve horses. 

About five o'clock in the afternoon I was directed 
to withdraw my picket line — which had been greatly 
extended in order to connect wMth troops on the left — 
as silently and carefully as possible, and return to 
Crawfish Springs. Arriving at the springs, the boys 
were allowed time to fill their canteens with water, 
when we pushed forward on the Chattanooga road to 
a ridge near Osbern's, where we bivouacked for the 
night. 

There had been heavy fighting on our left during 
the whole afternoon; and while the boys were prepar- 
ing supper, a very considerable engagement Avas oc- 
curring not far distant to the east and south of us. 
Elsewhere an occasional volley of musketry, and 
boom of artillery, with scattered firing along an 



334 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Septemher, 

extended line indicated that the two grand armies 
were concentrating for battle, and that the morrow 
would give us hot and dangerous Avork. 

20. (Sunday.) At an early hour in the morning I 
was directed to move northward on the Chattanooga 
road and report to General Thomas. He ordered me 
to go to the extreme left of our line, form perpen- 
dicularly to the rear of Baird's division, connecting 
with his left. I disposed of my brigade as directed. 
Baird's line appeared to run parallel with the road, 
and mine running to the rear crossed the road. On 
this road and near it I posted my artillery, and ad- 
vanced my skirmishers to the edge of the open field 
in front of the left and center of my line. The posi- 
tion was a good one, and my brigade and the one on 
Baird's left could have co-operated and assisted each 
other in maintaining it. Fifteen minutes after this 
line w^as formed, Captain Gaw, of General Thomas' 
staif, brought me a verbal order to advance my line 
to. a ridge or low hill (McDaniePs house), fully one- 
fourth of a mile distant. I represented to him that 
in advancing I would necessarily leave a long inter- 
val between my right and Baird's left, and also that I 
w^as already in the position which General Thomas 
himself told me to occupy. He replied that the order 
to move forward was imperative, and that I was to be 
supported by Negley with the other two brigades of 
his division. I could object no further, although the 
movement seemed exceedingly unwise, and, therefore, 
pushed forward my men as rapidly as possible to the 
point indicated. The Eighty-eighth Indiana (Colonel 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. LSo 

Humphreys), on the left, moved into position without 
difficulty. The Forty-second Indiana (Lieutenant- 
Coh)nel Mclntyre), on its right, met with considera- 
ble opposition in advancing through«the woods, but 
finally reached the ridge. The One Hundred and 
Fourth Illinois (Lieutenant-Colonel Hapeman), and 
Fifteenth Kentucky (Colonel Taylor), on the right, 
became engaged almost immediately and advanced 
slowly. The enemy in strong force pressed them 
heavily in front and on the right flank. 

At this time I sent an aid to request General Baird 
or General King to throw a force in the interval be- 
tween my right and their left, and dispatched Captain 
Wilson to the rear to hasten forward General Negley 
to my support. My regiment on the right was con- 
fronted by so large a force that it was compelled to 
fall back, which it did in good order, contesting the 
ground stoutly. About this time a column of the 
enemy, en masse^ on the double quick, pressed into 
the interval between the One Hundred and Fourth 
Illinois and Forty-second Indiana, and turned with 
the evident intention of capturing the latter, which 
was then busily engaged with the rebels in its front ; 
but Captain Bridges opened on it with grape and 
canister, when it broke and fell back in disorder to 
the shelter of the woods. The Forty-second Indiana, 
but a moment before almost surrounded, was thus en- 
abled to fight its way to the left and unite with the 
Eighty-eighth. Soon after this the enemy made an- 
other and more furious assault upon the One Hun- 
dred and Fourth Illinois and Fifteenth Kentucky, 



336 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

and, driving them back, advanced to within fifty 
yards of my battery, and poured into it a heavy fire, 
killing Lieutenant Bishop, and killing or wounding 
all the men and horses belonging to his section, which 
consequently fell into rebel hands. Captain Bridges 
and his officers, by the exercise of great courage and 
coolness, succeeded in saving the remainder of the 
battery. It was in this encounter that Captain 
LeFevre, of my staff, was killed, and Lieutenant 
Calkins, also of the staff, Avas wounded. 

The enemy having now gained the woods south of 
the open field and west of the road, I opposed his 
further progress as well as I could with the Fifteenth 
Kentucky and One Hundred and Fourth Illinois; 
but as he had two full brigades, the struggle on our 
part seemed a hopeless one. Fortunately, at this 
juncture, I discovered a battery on the road in our 
rear (I think it was Captain Goodspeed's), and at my 
request the Captain ordered it to change front and 
open fire. This additional opposition served for a 
time to entirely check the enemy. 

The Eighty-eighth and Forty-second Indiana, com- 
pelled, as their officers claim, to make a detour to the 
left and rear, in order to escape capture or utter anni- 
hilation, found General Negley, and were ordered to 
remain with him, and finally to retire with him in the 
direction of Rossville. This, however, I did not as- 
certain until ten hours later in the day. 

Firing having now ceased in my front, and being 
the only mounted officer or mounted man present, I 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 337 

left the Fifteenth Kentucky and One Hundred and 
Fourth Illinois temiDorarily in charge of Colonel 
Taylor, and hurried back to see General Thomas or 
Negley, and urge the necessity for more troops to ena- 
ble me to re-establish the line. On the way, and be- 
fore proceeding far, I met the Second Brigade of our 
division, Colonel Stanley, advancing to my support. 
Had it reached me an hour earlier, I feel assured that 
I Avould have been able to maintain the position 
which I had just been compelled to abandon. I 
directed Colonel Stanley to form line of battle at 
once, at right angles with the road and on its left, 
facing north. Returning to Colonel Taylor, I or- 
dered him to fall back with the Fifteenth Kentucky 
and One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, and form in 
rear of the left of Stanley's line, as a support to it. 
Soon after we had got our lines adjusted, the enemy 
pressed back the skirmishers of the Fifteenth Ken- 
tucky and One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, who 
had not been retired Avith the regiments, and, follow- 
ing them up, drove in also the skirmish line of 
Stanley's btigade, whereupon the Eleventh Michigan 
(Colonel Stoughton), and the Eighteenth Ohio (Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Grosvenor), gave him a well-directed 
volley, which brought him to a halt. Our whole line 
then opened at short range, and he wavered. I gave 
the order to advance, then to charge, and the brigade 
rushed forward with a yell, drove the enemy fully 
one-fourth of a mile, strewing the ground with his 
dead and wounded, and capturing many prisoners. 
29 



338 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

Among the latter Avas General Adams, the commander 
of a Louisiana brigade. 

Finding now that Colonel Taylor had not followed 
the movement with his regiment and the One Hun- 
dred and Fourth Illinois, and seeing the necessity for 
some support for a single line so extended, I hastened 
to the rear, and, being unable to find Taylor where I 
had left him, I induced four regiments, of I know not 
what command, which I found idle in the woods, to 
move forward and form a second line. 

At this time Captain Wilson, Avhoni I had sent to 
General Negley some time before the Second Brigade 
reached me, to inform him of my position and need 
of assistance, returned, and brought from him a ver- 
bal order to retire to the hill in the rear and join him. 
Convinced that the withdrawal "of the troops at this 
time from the position occupied might endanger the 
whole left wing of the army, I thought best to defer 
the execution of this order until I could see General 
Negley and explain to him the necessity of maintain- 
ing and reinforcing it with the other brigade of our 
division. But before Captain Wilson could find either 
Colonel Taylor, who had in charge the Fifteenth 
Kentucky and One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, or 
General Negley, the enemy made a fierce attack on 
Stanley's brigade and forced it back. The unknown 
brigade which I had posted in the rear to support it 
retired with unseemly haste, and without firing a 
shot. 

At this juncture frightened soldiers and occasional 
shots were coming from the right and rear of our line, 



1863.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 339 

indicating that tlie right wing of the army had either 
been thrown back or changed position. Stanley's bri- 
gade, considerably scattered and shattered by the last 
furious assault of the enemy, was gathered up 
by its officers and retired to the ridge on the 
right and to the rear of the original line of battle. 
Wilson and I made diligent efforts to find Taylor, 
but were unable to do so. I was greatly provoked at 
his retirement without consulting me, and at a time, 
too, when his presence was so greatly needed to sup- 
port Stanley. But later in the day I ascertained from 
him that he had been ordered by Major Lowrie, Gen- 
eral Negley^s chief of staff, to join Negley and retire 
with him to Kossville. He also had much to say 
about saving many pieces of artillery; but it oc- 
curred to me that his presence on the field w^as of 
much more importance than a few pieces of trumpery 
artillery off the field. Why, at any rate, did he not 
notify me of the order which he had received from 
the division commander? The charge of Stanley's 
brigade had not occupied to exceed thirty minutes, 
and as soon as it was ended I had returned to find 
him gone. The Colonel, however, did, doubtless, 
what he conceived to be his duty, and for the best. 
His courage had been tested on too many occasions to 
allow me to think that anything but an error of judg- 
ment, or possibly the belief that under any circum- 
stances he was bound to obey the order of the 
major-general commanding the division, could have 
induced him to abandon me. 

Supposing my regiments and General Negley to be 



340 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

still on the field, I again dispatched Captain Wilson 
in search of them, and in the meantime stationed my- 
self near a fragment of the Second Brigade of our 
division, and gave such general directions to the 
troops about me as under the circumstances I felt 
warranted in doing. I found abundant opportunity 
to make myself useful. Gathering up scattered de- 
tachments of a dozen different commands, I filled up 
an unoccupied space on the ridge between Harker, of 
Wood's division, on the left, and Brannan, on the 
right, and this point we held obstinately until sunset. 
Colonel Stoughton, Eleventh Michigan ; Lieutenant- 
Colonel .Rappin, Nineteenth Illinois; Lieutenant- 
Colonel Gros.venor, Eighteenth Ohio; Colonel Hunter, 
Eighty-second Indiana ; Colonel Hays and Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Wharton, Tenth Kentucky ; Captain 
Stinchcomb, Seventeenth Ohio, and Captain Ken- 
drick. Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania, were there, each 
having a few men of their respective commands; and 
they and their men fought and strnggled and clung 
to that ridge with an obstinate, persistent, desperate 
courage, unsurpassed, I believe, on any field. I 
robbed the dead of cartridges and distributed them 
to the men ; and once when, after a desperate strug- 
gle, our troops were driven from the crest, and the 
enemy's flag w^aved above it, the men were rallied, 
and I rode up the hill with them, waving my hat, 
and shouting like a madman. Thus we charged, and 
the enemy only saved his colors by throwing them 
down the hill. However much we may say of those 
who held command, justice compels the acknowl- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 341 

edo^ment that no officer exhibited more courage 
on that occasion than the humblest private in the 
ranks. 

About four o'clock we saw away off to our rear the 
banners and glittering guns of a division coming to- 
ward us^ and we became agitated by doubt and hope. 
Are they friends or foes? The thunder, as of a thou- 
sand anvils, still goes on in our front. Men fall 
around us like leaves in autumn. Thomas, Garfield, 
Wood, and others are in consultation below the hill 
just in rear of Harker. The approaching troops are 
said to be ours, and we feel a throb of exultation. 
Before they arrive we ascertain that tlie division is 
Steedman's ; and finally, as they come up, I recognize 
my old friend. Colonel Mitchell, of the One Hundred 
and Thirteenth. They go into action on our right, 
and as they press forward the roar of the musketry 
redoubles; the battle seems to be working off in that 
direction. There is now a comparative lull in our 
front, and I ride over to the right, and become 
involved in a regiment which has been thrown 
out of line and into confusion by another reg- 
iment that retreated through it in disorder. I assist 
Colonel Mitchell in rallying it, and it goes into the 
fight again. Returning to my old place, I find that 
disorganized bodies of men are coming rapidly from 
the left, in regiments, companies, squads, and singly. 
I meet General Wood, and ask if I shall not 
halt and reorganize them. He tells me to do so; but 
I find the task impossible. They do not recognize 
me as their commander, and most of them will not 



342 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [Septembek, 

obey my orders. Some few, indeed, I manage to hold . 
together ; but the great mass drift by me to the woods 
in the rear. The dead are lying every-where ; -the 
wounded are continually passing to the rear; the 
thunder of the guns and roll of musketry are unceas- 
ing and unabated until night-fall. Then the fury of 
the battle gradually dies away, and finally we have a 
silence, broken only by a cheer here and there along 
the enemy's line. 

Wilson and I are together near the ridge, Avhere we 
have been all the afternoon. AVe have heard nothing 
of Negley nor of my regiments. We take it 
for granted, however, that they are somewhere 
on the field. As the night darkens we discover a line 
of fires off to our left and rear, toward McDaniels' 
house. . That is the place .where Negley should have 
been in the morning, and we conclude he must be 
there now. 

We have been badly used during the day; but it 
does not occur to us that our army has been whipped. 
We start together to find Xegley. We have had 
nothing to eat since early morning, and so, passing 
a corn-field, we stop for a moment to fill our pockets 
with corn; then, proceeding on our w^ay, we pass 
through an unused field, grown up Avith brush, and 
here meet a man coming toward us on horseback. I 
said to him, " Are those our troops? " pointing in the 
direction of the line of fires. He answered, ^^ Yes ; 
our troops are on the road and just beyond it.'' 
Pretty soon we emerged from the brushy woods and 
entered an open field ; just before us was a long line 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 343 

of fires, and soldiers busily engaged preparing supper. 
AYe had approached to within two hundred feet of them, 
and could hear the soldiers talk and laugh, as soldiers 
will, over the incidents of the day, when we discerned 
that Ave were riding straight into the enemy^s line. 
Instantly wheeling our horses, we drove the spurs 
into them and lay down on their backs. We had 
been discovered, and a dozen or more shots were sent 
after us ; but we escaped unharmed. The man we met 
in the unused field had mistaken us for Confederate 
officers. Two or three shots were fired at us as we 
approached our own line, but the darkness saved us. 

Near eight o'clock in the evening I ascertained, 
from General Wood, that the army had been ordered 
to fall back to Ross vi lie, and I started at once to in- 
form Colonel Stoughton and others on the ridge; but 
I found that they had been apprised of the movement, 
and were then on the road to the rear. 

The march to Rossville was a melancholy one. All 
along the road, for miles, wounded men were lying. 
Tliey had crawled or hobbled slowly away from the 
fury of the battle, become exhausted, and lay down 
by the roadside to die. Some were calling the names 
and numbers of their regiments, but many had be- 
come too weak to do this; by midnight the column 
had passed by. What must have been their agony, 
mental and physical, as they lay in the dreary woods, 
sensible that there was no one to comfort or to care 
for them, and that in a few hours more their career 
on earth would be ended. 

At a little brook, which crossed the road, Wilson 



344 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

and I stopped to water our horses. The remains of a 
fire, which some soldiers had kindled, were raked to- 
gether, and laying a couple of ears of corn on the 
coals for our own use, we gave the remainder of what 
we had in our pockets to the poor beasts; they, also, 
had fasted since early morning. 

How many terrible scenes of the day's battle recur 
to us as we ride on in the darkness. We see again 
the soldier Avhose bowels were protruding, and hear 
him cry, "Jesus, have mercy on my soul!" What 
multitudes of thought were then crowding into the 
narrow half hour which he had yet to live — what 
regrets, what hopes, what fears ! The sky was dark- 
ening, earth fading ; wealth, power, fame, the prizes 
most esteemed of men, were as nothing. His only 
hope lay in the Saviour of whom his mother had 
taught him. I doubt not his earnest, agonizing prayer 
was heard. Nay, to doubt would be to question the 
mercy of God ! 

A Confederate boy, who should have been at home 
with his mother, and whose leg had been fearfully 
torn by a minnie ball, hailed me as I was galloping 
by early in the day. He was bleeding to death, and 
crying bitterly. I gave him my handkerchief, and 
shouted back to him, as I hurried on, '^^ Bind up the 
leg tight ! '' 

The adjutant of the rebel General Adams called to 
me as I passed him. He wanted help, but I could 
not help him — could not even help our own poor boys 
who lay bleeding near him. 

Sammy Snyder lay on the field wounded ; as I 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 345 

handed him my canteen he said^ ^' General, I did my 
duty/' " I know that, Sammy ; I never doubted that 
you would do your duty/' The most painful recollec- 
tion to one who has gone through a battle, is that cf 
the friends lying wounded and dying and who needed 
help so much when you were utterly powerless to aid 
them. 

Between ten and eleven o'clock, at night, I reached 
Rossville, and found one of my regiments, the Forty- 
second Indiana, on picket one mile south of that 
place, and the other regiments encamped near the 
town. My men were surprised and rejoiced to see 
me. It had been currently reported that I was killed. 
One fellow claimed to know the exact spot on my 
body where the ball hit me ; while another, not 
willing to be outdone, had given a minute description 
of the locality where I fell. General Negley rendered 
me good service by giving me something to eat and 
drink, for I was hungry as a wolf. 

At this hour of the night (eleven to twelve o'clock) 
the army is simply a mob. There appears to be 
neither organization nor discipline. The various 
commands are mixed up in what seems to be inex- 
tricable confusion. Were a division of the enemy to 
pounce down upon us between this and morning, I 
fear the Army of the Cumberland would be blotted 
out. 

21. Early this morning the army was again got 
into order. Officers and soldiers found their regi- 
ments, regiments their brigades, and brigades their 
divisions. My brigade was posted on a high ridg^e,^ 



346 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [September, 

east of Rossville and near it. About ten o'clock A. M 
it was attacked by a brigade of mounted infantry, a 
part of Forrest's command, under Colonel Dibble. 
After a sharp fight of half an hour, in which 
the Fifteenth Kentucky, Colonel Taylor, and the 
Forty-second Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Mclntyre 
were principally engaged, the enemy was repulsed 
and retired leaving his dead and a portion of his 
wounded on the field. Of his dead, one officer and 
eight men were left within a few rods of our line. 
One little boy, so badly wounded they could not 
carry him off, said, with tears and sobs, " They have 
run oif and left me in the woods to die." I directed 
the boys to carry him into our lines and care for him. 

At midnight,, the Fifteenth Kentucky was deployed 
on the skirmish line; the other regiments of the 
brigade withdrawn, and started on the way to Chat- 
tanooga. A little later the Fifteenth Kentucky 
quietly retired and proceeded to the same*place. 

22. We are at Chattanooga. 

With the exception of a cold, great exhaustion, and 
extreme hoarseness, occasioned by much hallooing, I 
am in good condition. The rebels have followed us 
and are taking position in our front. 

24. At midnight the enemy attempted to drive 
in our pickets, and an engagement ensued, which 
lasted an hour or more, and was quite brisk. 

26. This morning another furious assault was 
made on our picket line; but, after a short time, 
the rebels retired and permitted us to remain quiet 
for the remainder of the day. 



186.3.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 347 

Their pickets are plainly seen from our lines, and 
their signal flags are discernable on Mission ridge. 
Occasionally we see their columns moving. Our 
army is busily engaged fortifying. 

27. (Sunday.) Had a good night^s rest, and am 
feeling very well. The day is a quiet one. 



348 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 



OCTOBER, 1863 



1. Have been trying to persuade myself that I 
am unwell enougli to ask for a leave, but it will not 
work. The moment after I come to the conclusion 
that I am really sick, and can not stand it longer, 
I begin to feel better. The very thought of getting 
home, and seeing wife and children, cures me at once. 

3. The two armies are lying face to face. The 
Federal and Confederate sentinels walk their beats in 
sight of each other. The quarters of the rebel gen- 
erals may be seen from our camps with the naked eye. 
The tents of their troops dot the hillsides. To-night 
we see their signal lights off to the right on the summit 
of Lookout mountaiu, and off to the left on the knobs 
of Mission ridge. Their long lines of camp fires al- 
most encompass us. But the camp fires of the Army 
of the Cumberlaud are burning also. Bruised and torn 
by a two days' unequal contest, its flags are still up, 
and its men still unwhipped. It has taken its position 
here, and here, by God's help, it will remain. 

Colonel Hobart was captured at Chickamauga, and 
a fear is entertained that he may have been wounded. 

4. This is a pleasant October morning, rather 
wdndy and cool, but not at all uncomfortable. The 



t863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 349 

bands are mingling with the autumn breezes such 
martial airs as are common in camps, with now and 
then a sentimental strain, which awakens recollections 
of other days, when we were younger — thought 
more of sweethearts than of war, when, in fact, we 
did not think of war at all except as something 
of the past. 

Sitting at my tent door, with a field glass, I can 
see away off to the right, on the highest peak of 
Lookout mountain, a man waving a red flag to and 
fro. He is a rebel officer, signaling to the Con- 
federate generals what he observes of importance 
in the valley. From his position he can look down 
into our camp, see every rifle pit, and almost count 
the pieces of artillery in our fortifications. 

Captain Johnson, of General Negley's staff, has 
just been in, and tells me the pickets of the two 
armies are growing quite intimate, sitting about on 
logs together, talking over the great battle, and 
exchano^ins: views as to the results of a future 
engagement. 

General Negley called a few minutes ago and in- 
vited me to dine with him at five o'clock. The Gen- 
eral looks demoralized, and, I think, regrets some- 
what the part he took, or rather the part he failed to 
take, in the battle of Chickamauga. Remarks are 
made in reference to his conduct on that occasion 
w^hich are other than complimentary. The General 
doubtless did what he thought was best, and probably 
had orders which will justify his action. After a 
battle there is always more or less bad feeling, regi- 



350 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [October, 

ments, brigades, and corps claiming that other regi- 
ments, brigades, and corps iailed to do their whole 
duty, and should therefore be held responsible for 
this or that misfortune. 

There was a rumor, for some days before the battle 
of Chickamauga, that Burnside was on the way to 
join us, and we shouted Burnside to the boys, on the 
day of the battle, until we became hoarse. Did the 
line stagger and show a disposition to retire : " Stand 
up, boys, reinforcements are coming; Burnside is 
near.'^ Once, when Palmer's division was falling 
back through a corn-field, our line was hotly pressed. 
Pointing to Palmer's columns, which were coming 
from the left toward the right, the officers shouted, 
^^ Give it to 'em, boys, Burnside is here,'' and the boys 
went in with renewed confidence. But, alas, at night- 
fall Burnside had played out, and the hearts of our 
brave fellows went down with the sun. Burnside is 
now regarded as a myth, a fictitious warrior, who is 
said to be coming to the rescue of men sorely pressed, 
but who never comes. When an improbable story is 
told to the boys, now, they express their unbelief by 
the simple word " Burnside," sometimes adding, " O 
yes, w^e know him." 

5. The enemy opened on us, at 11 A. M., from 
batteries located on the point of Lookout mountain, 
and continued to favor us with cast-iron in the shape 
of shell and solid shot until sunset. He did little 
damage, however, three men only were wounded, and 
these but slightly. A shell entered the door of a dog 
tent, near which two soldiers of the Eighteenth Ohio 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 351 

were standing, and buried itself in the ground, when 
one of the soldiers turned very coolly to the other and 
said, " There, you d — d fool, you see what you get by 
leaving your door open." 

6. The enemy unusually silent. 

7. Visited the picket line this afternoon. A rebel 
line officer came to within a few rods of our picket 
station, to exchange papers, and stood and chatted for 
some time with the Federal officer. There appears to 
be a perfect understanding that neither party shall 
fire unless an advance is made in force. 



352 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 



NOVEMBER, 1863 



11. My new brigade consists of the following 
regiments : 

One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio Infantry, Col- 
onel John G. Mitchell. 

One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Infantry, Col- 
onel H. B. Banning. 

One Hundred and Eighth Ohio Infantry, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Pieplio. 

Ninety-eighth Ohio Infantry, Major Shane. 

Third Ohio Infantry, Captain Leroy S. Bell. 

Seventy-eighth Illinois Infantry, Colonel Van 
Vleck. 

Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, Colonel Van Tas- 
sell. 

There has been much suffering among the men. 
They have for weeks been reduced to quarter rations, 
and at times so eager for food that the commissary 
store-rooms would be thronged, and the few crumbs 
which fell from broken boxes of hard-bread carefully 
gathered up and eaten. Men have followed the 
forage wagons and picked up the grains of corn which 
fell from them, and in some instances they have 
picked up the grains of corn from the mud where 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 353 

mules have been fed. The suiFering among the ani- 
mals has been intense. Hundreds of mules and 
horses have died of starvation. Now, however, that 
we have possession of the river, the men are fulH 
supplied, but the poor horses and mnles are still suf- 
fering. A day or two more will, I trust, enable us to 
provide well for them also. Two steamboats are ply- 
ing between this and Chattanooga, and one immense 
wagon train is also busy. Supplies are coming for- 
ward with a reasonable degree of ra})idity. The men 
appear to be in good health and excellent spirits. 

12. We are encamped on Stringer's ridge, on the 
north side of the Tennessee, immediately opposite Chat- 
tanooga. This morning Colonel IMitchell and I rode to 
the picket line of the brigade. The line runs along the 
river, opposite and to the north of the point of Look- 
out mountain. At the time, a heavy fog rising from 
the water veiled somewhat the gigantic proportions of 
Lookout point, or the nose' of Lookout, as it is some- 
times designated. While standing on the bank, at the 
water's edge, peering through the mist, to get a bet- 
ter view of two Confederate soldiers, on the opposite 
shore, a heavy sound broke from the summit of Look- 
out mountain, and a shell went whizzing over into 
Hooker's camps. Pretty soon a battery opened on what 
is called Moccasin point, on the north side of the 
river, and replied to Lookout. Later in the day 
Moccasin and Lookout got into an angry discussion 
which lasted two hours. These two batteries have a 
special spite at each other, and almost every day 
30 



354 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 

thunder away in the most terrible manner. Lookout 
throws his missiles too high and Moccasin too low^ so 
that usually the only loss sustained by either is in 
ammunition. Moccasin, however, makes the biggest 
noise. The sound of his guns goes crashing and echo- 
ing along the sides of Lookout in a way that must be 
particularly gratifying to Moccasin's soul. I fear, 
however, that both these gigantic gentlemen are deaf 
as adders, or they would not so delight in kicking up 
such a hellebaloo. 

This afternoon I rode over to Chattanooga. Called 
at the quarters of my division commander, General 
Jeff. C. Davis, but found him absent; stopped at De- 
partment Head-quarters and saw General Reynolds, 
chief of stafP; caught sight of Generals Hooker, 
Howard, and Gordon Granger. Soon General 
Thomas entered the room and shook hands with me. 
On my way back to camp I called on General Rous- 
seau ; had a long and pleasant conversation with him. 
He goes to Nashville to-morrow to assume command 
of the District of Tennessee. He does not like the 
way in which he has been treated; thinks there is a 
disposition on the part of those in authority to shelve 
him, and that his assignment to Nashville is for the 
purpose of letting him down easily. Palmer, who 
has been assigned to the command of the Fourteenth 
Corps, is Rousseau's junior in rank, and this grinds 
him. He referred very kindly to the old Third Di- 
vision, and said it won him his stars. I told him I 
was exceedingly anxious to get home ; that it seemed 
almost impossible for me to remain longer. He said 



1G63.] OK, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 355 

that I must continue until they made me a major-gen- 
eral. I replied that I neither expected nor desired 
promotioit. 

At the river I met Father Stanley, of the Eighteenth 
Ohio. He presides over the swing ferry, in which he 
takes especial delight. A long rope, fastened to a 
stake in the middle of the river, is attached to the 
boat, and the current is made to swing it from one 
shore to the other. 

1 4. My fleet-footed black horse is dead. Did the 
new moon, which I saw so squarely over my left 
shoulder when riding him over Waldron's ridge, 
augur this? 

The rebel journals are expressing great dissatisfac- 
tion at Bragg's failure to take Chattanooga, and insist 
Vpon his doing so without further delay. On the 
other hand, the authorities at Washington are prob- 
ably urging Grant to move, fearing if he does not 
that Burnside will be overwhelmed. Thus both gen- 
erals must do something soon in order to satisfy their 
respective masters. There will be a battle or a foot- 
race within a week or two. 

15. Have read Whitelaw^ Reid's statement of the 
causes of Rosecrans' removal. He is, I presume, in 
the main correct. Investigation will show that the 
army could have gotten into Chattanooga without a 
battle on the Chickamauga. There would have been 
a battle here, doubtless, and defeat would have re- 
sulted probably in our destruction ; yet it seems rea- 
sonable to suppose that, if able to hold Chattanooga 
after defeat, we would have been able to do so before. 



356 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 



MISSION FvIDGE. 

20. Orders have been issnedj and to morrow a 
great battle will be fought. May God be with our 
army and favor us Avith a substantial victory ! My 
brigade will move at daylight. It is now getting 
ready. 

Order to move countermanded at midnight. 

22. The day is delightful. Lookout and Mocca- 
sin are furious. The Eleventh Corps (Howard's) is 
now crossing the pontoon bridge, just below and be- 
fore us, to take position for to-morrow's engagement. 
Sherman is also moving up the river on the north 
side, with a view to getting at the enemy's right 
flank. My brigade will be under arms at daylight, 
and ready to move. Our division will operate with 
Sherman on the left. Hitherto I have gone into 
battle almost without knowing it; now we are about 
to bring on a terrible conflict, and have abundant 
time for reflection. I can not aflirm that the pros- 
pect has a tendency to elevate one's spirits. There 
are men, doubtless, who enjoy having their legs sawed 
off, their heads trepanned, and their ribs reset, but 
I am not one of them. I am disposed to think 
of home and family — of the great suftering which 
results from engagements between immense ar- 
mies. Somebody — Wellington, I miess — said there 
was nothing worse than a great victory except a 
great defeat. 

Rode with Colonel Mitchell four miles up the river 
to General Davis' quarters ; met there General Mor- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 357 

gan, commanding First Brigade of our division ; 
Colonel Dan MeCook, commanding Third Brigade, 
and Mr. Dana, Assistant Secretary of AYar. 

23. It is now half-past five o'clock in the morn- 
ing. The moon has gone down, and it is that dark- 
est hour which is said to precede the dawn. My 
troops have been up since three o'clock busily en- 
gaged making preparation for the day's work. Judg- 
ing from the almost continuous whistling of the cars 
off beyond Mission Ridge, the rebels have an intima- 
tion of the attack to be made, and are busy either 
bringing reinforcements or preparing io evacuate. 

Noon. There has been a hitch in affairs, and I am 
still in my tent at the old place. 

About 2 p. M. a division or more was sent out to 
reconnoiter the enemy's front. The movement re- 
sulted in a sharp fight, which lasted until after sun- 
set. Both artillery and infantry were engaged. As 
night grew on we could see the flash of the enemy's 
guns all along the crest of Mission Kidge, and then 
hear the report, and the prolonged reverberations as 
the sound went crashing among ridges, hills, and 
mountains. Rumor says that our troops captured 
five hundred prisoners. 

24. Moved to Caldwell's, four miles up the river. 
A pontoon bridge was thrown across the stream ; but 
there were many troops in advance of us, and my 
brigade did not reach the south side until after one 
o'clock. Our division was held in reserve; so we 
stacked arms and lay upon the grass midway between 
the river and the foot of Mission Ridge, and listened 



358 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [November, 

to the preliminary music of the guns as the National 
line was being adjusted for to-morrow's battle. 

25. During the day, as we listened to the roar of 
the conflict, I thought I detected in the management 
what I had never discovered before on the battle-field, 
a little common sense. Dash is handsome, genius 
glorious; but modest, old-fashioned, practical, every- 
day sense is the trump, after all, and the only thing 
one can securely rely upon for permanent success in 
any line, either civil or military. This element evi- 
dently dominated in this battle. The struggle along 
Mission Eidge seemed more like a series of inde- 
pendent battles than one grand conflict. There were 
few times during the day when the engagement ap- 
peared to be heavy and continuous along the whole 
line. There certainly was not an extended and un- 
ceasing roll, as at Chickamauga and Stone river, but 
rather a succession of heavy blows. Now it woukl 
thunder furiously on the extreme right ; then the left 
would take up the sledge, and finally the center would 
begin to pound; and so the National giant appeared 
to skip from point to point along the ridge, striking 
rapid and thundering blows here and there, as if seek- 
ing the weak place in his antagonist's armor. The 
enemy, thoroughly bewildered, finally became most 
fearful of Sherman, who was raising a perfect pande- 
monium on his flank, and so strengthened his right at 
the expense of other portions of his line, when 
Thomas struck him in the center, and he abandoned 
the field. The loss must be comparatively small, but 



1863.] vOR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 359 

the victory is all the more glorious for this very 
reason. 

26. At one o'clock in the morning we crossed the 
Chickamauga in pursuit of the retreating enemy. 
The First Brigade of our division having the lead, I 
had nothing to do but follow it. At Chickamauga 
depot we came in sight of the rebels, and formed line 
of battle to attack ; but they retired, leaving the 
warehouses containing their supplies in flames. At 3 
p. M. my brigade was ordered to head the column, and 
we drove the enemy's rear guard before us without 
meeting with any serious opposition until night-fall, 
when, on arriving at Mrs. Sheppard's spring branch, 
near Graysville, a brigade of Confederate troops, with 
a battery, under command of Brigadier-General 
Manny, opened on us with considerable violence. 
A sharp encounter ensued of about an hour's dura- 
tion, resulting in the defeat of the enemy and the 
wounding of the rebel general. My brigade behaved 
well, did most of the fighting, and, owing to the 
darkness, probably, sustained but little loss. When 
General Davis came up I asked permission to make 
a detour through the woods to the right, for the 
purpose of overtaking and cutting off the enemy's 
train ; but he thought it not advisable to attempt it. 



360 THE CITIZEN VOLUNTEER; [December, 



DECEMBER, 1863. 



I will not undertake to give a detailed account of 
our march to Knoxville, for the relief of Burnside, 
and the return to Chattanooga. We were gone three 
weeks, and during that time had no change of clothing, 
and were compelled to obtain our food from the corn- 
cribs, hen-roosts, sheep-pens, and smoke-houses on 
the way. The incidents of this trip, through the 
valleys of East Tennessee, where the waters of the 
Hiawasse, and the Chetowa, and the Ocoee, and the 
Estonola ripple through corn-fields and meadows, and 
beneath shadows of evergreen ridges, will be laid 
aside for a more convenient season. I append simply 
a letter of General Sherman : 

"Head-quarters Department of the Tennessee, | 
" Chattanooga, December 18, 1863. j 

"General Jeff. C. Davis, Chattanooga. 

"Dear General — In our recent short but most 
usefid campaign it was my good fortune to have 
attached to me the corps of General Howard, and the 
division commanded by yourself I now desire to 
thank you personally and officially for the handsome 
manner in which you and your command have borne 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTE 361 

themselves throughout. You led in the pursuit of 
Bragg's army on the route designated for my com- 
mand, and I admired the skill with which you handled 
the division at Chickamauga, and more especially in 
the short and sharp encounter, at night-fall, near 
Graysville. 

" When General Grant called on us, unexpectedly 
and without due preparation, to march to Knoxville 
for the relief of General Burnside, you and your offi- 
cers devoted yourselves to the work like soldiers and 
patriots, marching through cold and mud without a 
murmur, trusting to accidents for shelter and sub- 
sistence. 

" During the whole march, whenever I encountered 
your command, I found all the officers at their proper 
places and the men in admirable order. This is the 
true test, and I pronounce your division one of the 
best ordered in the service. I wish you all honor and 
success in your career, and shall deem myself most 
fortunate if the incidents of war bring us together 
again. 

" Be kind enough to say to General Morgan, Gen- 
eral Beatty, and Colonel McCook, your brigade com- 
manders, that I have publicly and privately com- 
mended their brigades, and that I stand prepared, at 
all times, to assist them in whatever way lies in my 
power. 

" I again thank you personally, and beg to sub- 
scribe myself, Your sincere friend, 

" W. T. Sherman, Major-General.'' 
31 



362 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

Colonel Van Vleek, Seventy-eight Illinois, was 
kind enough in his report to say : 

" In behalf of the entire regiment I tender to the 
general commanding the brigade, my sincere thanks 
for his uniform kindness, and for his solicitude for the 
men during all their hardships and suffering, as well 
as for his undaunted courage, self-possession, and 
military skill in time of danger." 

26. Moved to McAflfee's Springs, six miles from 
Chattanooga, and two miles from the battle-field of 
Chickamauga. My quarters are in the State of Ten- 
nessee, those of my troops in Georgia. The line 
between the states is about forty yards from where I 
sit. On our way hither, we saw many things to re- 
mind us of the Confederate army — villages of log 
huts, chimueys, old clothing, and miles of rifle pits. 

27. Just a moment ago I asked Wilson the day of 
the week, and he astonished me by saying it was Sun- 
day. It is the first time I ever passed a Sabbath, 
from daylight to dark, without knowing it. 

Wilson lies on his cot to-night a disappointed man. 
His application for a leave was disapproved. 

I am quartered in a log hut; a blanket over the 
doorway excludes the damp air and the cold blasts. 
The immense chinks, or rather lack of immense chinks, 
in various parts of the edifice, leave abundance of 
room for the admission of light. There are no win- 
dows, but this is fortunate, for if there were, they, like 
the door, would need covering, and blankets are 
scarce. The fire-place, however, is grand, and would 
be creditable to a castle. 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 363 

• 

' The forest in which we are encamped, was, in former 
times, a rendezvous for the blacklegs, thieves, mur- 
derers, and outlaws, generally of two States, Tennes- 
see and Georgia. An old inhabitant informs me he 
has seen hundreds of these persecuted and proscribed 
gentry encamped about this spring. When an officer 
of Tennessee came with a writ to arrest them, they 
would step a few yards into the State of Georgia and 
laugh at him. So, when Georgia sought to lay its 
official clutches on an offi^nding Georgian, the latter 
would walk over into Tennessee and argue the case 
across the line. It was a very convenient spot for 
law-breakers. To reach across this imaginary line, 
and draw a man from Tennessee, would be kidnap- 
ping, an insult to a sovereign State, and in a States'- 
rights country such a procedure could not be toler- 
ated. Requisitions from the governors of Tennessee 
and Georgia might, of course, be procured, but this 
would take time, and in this time the offender could 
walk leisurely into Alabama or North Carolina, 
neither of which States is very far away. In fact, 
the presence of large numbers of these desperados, in 
this locality, at all seasons of the year, has prevented 
its settlement by good men, and, in consequence, there 
are thousands of acres on which there has scarcely 
been a field cleared, or even a tree cut. 

The somber forest, with its peculiar history, sug- 
gests to our minds the green woods of old England, 
where Robin Hood and his merry men were wont to 
pass their idle time ; or the Black Forest of Germany, 



364 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

where thieves and highwaymen found conceahnent in 
days of old. 

What a country for the romancer ! Here is the 
dense wilderness, the Tennessee and Chickamauga, the 
precipitous Lookout with his foot-hills, spurs, coves, 
and water-falls. Here are cosy little valleys from 
which the world, with its noise, bustle, confusions, and 
cares, is excluded. Here have congregated the bloody 
villains and sneaking thieves; the plumed knights, 
dashing horsemen, and stubborn infantry. Here are 
the two great battle-fields of Chickamauga and Mission 
Ridge. Here neighbors have divided, and families 
separated to fight on questions of National policy. 
Here, in short, every thing is supplied to the poet but 
the invention to construct the plot of his tale, and the 
genius to breathe life into the characters. 

It may be possible, however, that the country* is yet 
too young, and its incidents too new, to make it a 
fertile field for the novelist. The imagination works 
best amid scenes half known and half forgotten. 
When time shall have thrown its shadows over the 
events of the last century, and the real and unreal 
become so intermingled in the minds of men as to 
become indistinguishable, imaginary Eobin Hoods 
will find hiding places in the caves ; innocent men, in 
deadly peril, will seek safety in the mountain fast- 
nesses until the danger be past; conspirators will 
meet in the shado^vy recesses to concoct their hellish 
plots, over which truth, courage, and honesty will 
finally triumph. Here the blue and the gray will 
meet to fight, and to be reconciled ; and there will 



1863.1 OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 365 

not be wanting the Helen McGregors and Die Yer- 
nons to give color and interest to the scene. 

27. Our horses are on quarter feed. 

Some benevolent gentleman should suggest a sani- 
tary fair for the benefit of the disabled horses and 
mules of the Federal army. There is no suffering so 
intense as theirs. They are driven, with whip and 
spur, on half and quarter food, until they drop from 
exhaustion, and then abandoned to die in the mud- 
hole where they fall. At Parker's Gap, on our return 
from Tennessee, I saw a poor white horse that had 
been rolled down the hill to get it out of the road. 
It had lodged against a fallen tree, feet uppermost; to 
get up the hill was impossible, and to roll down cer- 
tain destruction. So the poor brute lay there, looking 
pitiful enough, his big frame trembling with fright, 
his great eyes looking anxiously, imploringly for help. 
A man can give vent to his sufferings, he can ask for 
assistance, he can find some relief either in crying, 
praying, or cursing; but for the poor exhausted and 
abandoned beast there is no help, no relief, no hope. 

To day we picked up, on the battle-field of Chicka- 
mauofa, the skull of a man who had been shot in the 
head. It was smooth, white, and glossy. A little over 
three months ago this skull was full of life, hope, and 
ambition. He who carried it into battle had, doubt- 
less, mother, sisters, friends, whose happiness was, to 
some extent, dependent upon him. They mourn for 
him now, unless, possibly, they hope still to hear that 
he is safe and well. Vain hope. Sun, rain, and crows 
have united in the work of stripping the flesh from 



366 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

his bones, and while the greater part of these lay 
whitening where they fell, the skull has been rolling 
about the field the sport and plaything of the winds. 
This is war, and amid such scenes we are supposed to 
think of the amount of our salary, and of what the 
newspapers may say of us. 

28. One of my orderlies approached me on my 
weak side to-day, by presenting me four cigars. 
Cigars are now rarely seen in camp. Sutlers have 
not been permitted to come further south than Bridge- 
port; and had it not been for the trip into East Ten- 
nessee the brigade would have been utterly destitute 
of tobacco. 

While bivouacking on the Hiawasse, a citizen 
named Trotter, came into camp. He was an old, 
man, and professed to be loyal. I interrogated him 
on the tobacco question. He replied, ^^ The crap has 
been mitey poor fur a year or two. I do n't use ter- 
backer myself, but my wife used to chaw it; but the 
frost has been a nippen of it fur a year or two, and 
it is so poor she has quit chawen ontirely.^' 

When returning from Knoxville, we passed a farm 
house which stood near the roadside. Three young 
women were standing at the gate, and appeared to be 
in excellent spirits. Captain Wager inquired if they 
had heard from Knoxville. "O yes,'' they answered, 
" General Longstreet has captured Knoxville and all 
of General Burnside's men." " Indeed," said the 
Captain; "Avhat about Chattanooga?" "Well, we 
heard that Bragg had moved back to Dalton." "You 
have not heard, then, that Bragg was whipped; lost 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 367 

sixty pieces of artillery and many thousand men?" 
^^O no! " ^^ You have not heard that Longstreet was 
defeated at Knoxville, and compelled to fall back with 
heavy loss?'^ "No, no; we don^t believe a Avord of it. 
A man, who came from Knoxville and knows all about 
it, says that, you uns are retreating now as fast as you 
can. You can't whip our fellers." "Well, ladies," 
said the Captain, " I am glad to see you feeling so 
well under adverse circumstances. Good-by." 

The girls were evidently determined that the Yank 
should not deceive them. 

At another place quite a number of women and 
children were standing by the roadside. As the col- 
umn approached, said one of the women to a soldier : 
"Is these uns Yankees?" "Yes, madam," replied 
the boy, " regular blue-bellied Yankees." " We never 
seed any you uns before." " Well, keep a sharp 
lookout and you'll see they all have horns on." 

One day, while I was at Davis' quarters, near 
Columbus, a preacher came in and said he wanted to 
sell all the property he could to the army and get 
greenbacks, as he desired to move to Illinois, where 
his brother-in-law resided, and his Confederate notes 
would not be worth a dime there. " How is that, 
Parson," said Davis, aflPecting to misunderstand him ; 
" not worth a damn there ?" " No, sir, no, sir ; not 
worth a dime, sir. You misunderstood me, sir. I 
said not worth a dime there." " I beg your pardon, 
Parson," responded Davis ; " I thought you said not 
worth a damn there, and was surprised to hear you 
say so." 



368 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December. 

While we were encamped on the banks of the Hia- 
wasse, a Union man, near seventy years old, was mur- 
dered by guerrillas. Not long before, a young lady, 
the daughter of a Methodist minister, was robbed and 
murdered near the same place. Murders and rob- 
beries are as common occurrences in that portion of 
Tennessee as marriages in Ohio, and excite about as 
little attention. Horse stealing is not considered an 
offense. 

29. Nothing of interest has transpired to-day. 
Bugles, drums, drills, parades — the old story over 
and over again ; the usual number of corn-cakes eaten, 
of pipes smoked, of papers respectfully forwarded, of 
how-do-ye-do's to colonels, captains, lieutenants, and 
soldiers. You put on your hat and take a short walk. 
It does you no good. Returning you lie down on 
the cot, and undertake to sleep; but you have already 
slept too much, and you get up and smoke again, 
look over an old paper, yawn, throw the paper down, 
and conclude it is confoundedly dull. Jack brings 
in dinner. You see somebody passing; it is Captain 
Clayson, the Judge- Advocate, and you cry out : " Hold 
on. Captain ; come in and have a bite of dinner/' 
He concludes to do so. Being a judge-advocate he 
talks law, and impresses you with the idea that every 
other judge-advocate has in some respects been faulty; 
but he has taken pains to master his duties per- 
fectly, and makes no mistakes. Pretty soon Major 
Shane drops in, and you ask him to dine ; but he has 
just been to dinner, and thanks you. Observing Cap- 
tain Clayson, he asks how the business of the court- 



1863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 369 

martial progresses, and says : " By the way, Captain, 
the sentence in that quarter-master's case was disap- 
proved because the record was defective/^ The Cap- 
tain blushes. He made up the record, and it strikes 
him the Major's remark is very untimely. 

It is dull! 

30. Took a ten-mile ride this afternoon. Two 
miles from camp I met Lieutenant Piatt, one of my 
aids. He had asked permission in the morning to go 
into the country to secure a lady for a dance, which 
is to take place a night or two hence. I asked: 
" Where have you been, Lieutenant ?'' " At Mrs. 
Calisspe's, the house on the left, yonder.'' I did not, 
of course, ask if he had been successful in his mis- 
sion ; but as I approached the little frame in which 
Mrs. Calisspe resided, I thought I would drop in and 
see what sort of a woman had drawn the Lieutenant 
so far from camp. Knocking at the door, a feminine 
voice said " Come in," and I entered. There were 
three females. The elder I took to be Mrs. Calisspe. 
A handsome, neatly-dressed young lady I concluded 
was the one the Lieutenant sought. A heavy and 
rather dull woman, who stood leaning against the 
wall, I set down as a dependent or servant in the 
family. "Beg pardon, madam, is this the direct road 
to Shallow Ford?" "Yes, sir, the straight road. 
Won't you take a seat ?" " Thank you, no. Good 
evening." Trotting along over the road which Mrs. 
Calisspe said was straight, but which, in fact, was 
exceedingly crooked, we came finally to the camp of 



370 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [December, 

the Thirteenth Michigan, a regiment which General 
Thomas supposes to be engaged in cutting saw-logs, 
vThen, in truth, its principal business is strolling about 
the country stealing chickens. It is, however, known 
as the saw-log regiment. 

On our return from Shallow Ford, as we ap- 
proached Mrs. Calisspe's, we saw her handsome 
daughter on the porch inspecting a side-saddle, and 
concluded from this that the gallant Lieutenant's 
application had been successful, and that she pro- 
posed to accompany him to the ball on horseback. 
As we galloped by the house, a little flaxen-haired, 
chubby boy, who had climbed the fence, extended 
his head over the top rail and jabbered at us at the 
top of his voice; but the handsome young lady did 
not favor us with even a glance. 

31. It is late. Hours ago the bugles notified the 
boys that it w as time to retire to their dens. I have 
been reading Thackeray's "Lovell, the Widow^er,'^ 
and as I sat alone in the silence of the middle 
night, the scenes depicted grew distinct and life- 
like ; the characters encompassed me about real 
living men and women ; the drawing-rooms, dining- 
halls, parlors, opened out before me ; the streets, 
walks, drives, were all visible, and I became a spec- 
tator instead of a reader. Suddenly a low, unearthly 
wail broke the stillness, and my hair stiffened some- 
what at the roots, as the fancy struck me that I 
heard the voice of the defunct Mrs. Lovell. A mo- 
ment's reflection, however, dispelled this disagreeable 



i863.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEEB. 371 

thought. Looking toward the corner of the cabin 
whence the ghostly sound emanated, I discovered a 
strange cat. My long-legged boots followed each 
other in quick succession toward the unhappy kitten, 
and I yelled "scat" in a very vindictive way. 



372 THE CITIZEN SOLDIER; [January, 



JANUARY 1, -1864, 



Standing on a peak of Mission Ridge to-day, we 
had spread out before us one of the grandest pros- 
pects which ever delighted the eye of man. North- 
ward Waklron^s Ridge and Lookout mountain rose 
massive and precipitous, and seemed the boundary 
wall of the world. Below them was the Tennessee, 
like a ribbon of silver ; Chattanooga, with its thou- 
sands of white tents and miles of fortifications. 
Southward was the Chickamauga, and beyond a suc- 
cession of ridges, rising higher and higher, until the 
eye rested upon the blue tops of the great mountains 
of North Carolina. The fact that a hundred and fifty 
thousand men, with all the appliances of war, have 
struggled for the possession of these mountains, riv- 
ers, and ridges, gives a solemn interest to the scene, 
and renders it one of the most interesting, as it is 
one of the grandest, in the world. 

When history shall have recorded the thrilling 
tragedies enacted here; Avhen poets shall have illu- 
minated every hill-top and mountain peak with the 
glow of their imagination ; when the novelist shall 
have given it a population from his fertile brain, 
what place can be more attractive to the traveler ?• 



X864.] OR, MEMOIRS OF A VOLUNTEER. 373 

Looking on this panorama of mountains, ridges, 
rivers, and valleys, one has a j lister conception of the 
power of God. Reflecting upon the deeds that have 
been done here, he obtains a truer knowledge of the 
character of man, and the incontestable evidences of 
his nobility. 

Standing here to-day, I take off my hat to the 
reader, if by possibility there be one who has had 
the patience to follow me thus far, and as I bid him 
good-by, wish him " A Happy New Year." 



CAPTURE. IMPRISONMENT, 



AND 



ESCAPE, 



BY 



GENERAL HARRISON C. HOBART, 

OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. 



EXPLANATORY. 



Among the Union officers who escaped from Libby 
Prison at Richmond, on the night of the 9th of Febru- 
ary, 1864, was my esteemed friend, General Harrison 
C. Hobart, then Colonel of the Twenty-first Wisconsin 
Volunteer Infantry. His name is mentioned quite 
frequently in the preceding pages. Ten years after 
the war closed, he spent a few days at my house, and 
while there was requested to tell the story of his cap- 
ture, imprisonment, and escape. My children gath- 
ered about him, and listened to his narrative with an 
intensity of interest which I am very sure they never 
exhibited when receiving words of admonition and 
advice from their father. 

While my manuscript was in the hands of the pub- 
lishers, it occurred to me that General Hobart's story 
would be as interesting to others as it had been to my 
own family, and so I wrote, urging him to furnish it 
to me for publication. He finally consented to do so, 
and I have the pleasure now of presenting it to the 
reader. It bears upon its face the evidence of its 
entire truthfulness, and yet is as interesting as a 
romance. 

32 JOHN BEATTY. 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 



The battles of Chickamauga were fought on the 
19th and 20th of September, 1863. The Twenty-first 
Wisconsin, which I then commanded, formed a part 
of Thomas' memorable line, and fought through the 
battles of Saturday and Sunday. At the close of the 
second day, Thomas' Corps still maintained its posi- 
tion, and presented an unbroken front to the enemy, 
but the right of our army having fallen back, the tide 
of battle was turning against us. 

To avoid a flank movement, our brigade was ordered 
to leave the breastworks, which they had held against 
the severest fire of the enemy during the day, and fall 
back to a second position. Here only a portion of 
the men, with three regimental standards, were ral- 
lied. A rebel battery was instantly placed in position 
on our right, and rebel cavalry swept between us and 
the retreating army. 

Being the ranking officer among those who rallied, 
I directed the men to cut their way through to our 
retreating line. I was on the left of this movement 
to the rear, and, to avoid the approach of horsemen, 

rapidly passed to ihe left through a dense cluster of 

(379) 



380 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

small pines, and instantly found myself in the imme- 
diate I'ront of a rebel line of infantry. I halted, 
being dismounted, and an officer advanced and offered 
his hand, saying that he was glad to see me, and pro- 
posed to introduce me to his commander. General 
Cleburne. I replied, that I was not particularly 
pleased to see him, but, under the circumstances, 
should not decline his invitation. 

I met the General, who was mounted and being 
cheered by his men, and surrendered to him my 
sword. He inquired where I had been fighting. I 
said, *^ Right there," pointing to the line of Thomas' 
Corps. He replied, "This line has given us our chief 
trouble, sir; your soldiers have fought like brave 
men ; come with me and I will see that no one insults 
or interferes with you." 

It was now after sun-down, and the last guns of the 
terrible battle of Chicamauga Avere dying away along 
the hillsides of Mission Ridge. A large number of 
prisoners of war were soon gathered, and marched to 
the enemy's rear across the Chickamauga. Here w^e 
witnessed the fearful results of the battle. The ground 
strewed with the dead and wounded, the shattered frag- 
ments of transportation, and a general demoralization 
among the forces, told the fearful price which the 
enemy had paid for their victory. More than fifteen 
hundred soldiers, prisoners of war, camped by a large 
spring to pass the remainder of a cold night ; some 
without blankets or overcoats, and all without pro- 
visions. 

The next day we were marched about t^.i^ty miles 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 381 

to Tunnel Hill, where we received our first rations 
from the enemy. On this march, the only food we 
obtained was from a field of green sorghum. Here 
we were placed in box cars and taken to Atlanta. 
On arriving at this place, we were first marched to an 
open field outside of the city, near a fountain of water, 
and surrounded by a guard. Kind-hearted people 
came out of the city, bringing bread with them, which 
they threw to ns across the guard line. Immediately 
a second line was established, distant several rods 
outside of the first, to prevent them from giving us 
food. 

From this place we were marched to the old slave- 
pen, and every man, as he entered the narrow gate, 
was compelled to give up his overcoat and blanket. 
I remonstrated with the officers for stripping the sol- 
diers of their necessary clothing, as an act in violation 
of civilized warfare and inhuman. The men who 
were executing this infamous duty, did not deny these 
charges, but excused themselves on the ground that 
they w^ere simply obeying an order of General Bragg 
from the front. That night I saw seventeen hundred 
Union soldiers lie down upon the ground, without an 
overcoat or blanket to protect them from the cold 
earth, or shield them from the heavy Southern dew. 

The next morning we were ordered to take the cars, 
and proceed on our w^ay to Richmond. These men 
arose from the ground, cold and wet with dew, and 
under my command organized and formed in column 
by companies, and marched to the depot through one 
of the main streets of Atlanta, singing in full chorus 



382 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

the Star Spangled Banner. Crowds gathered around 
us as we entered the cars. A guard with muskets 
accompanied the train. 

I will here relate an incident which occurred on our 
way. We overtook a train of open cars, filled with 
Confederate wounded from the battle-field. The two 
trains stopped for some time alongside and in close 
proximity. It was a spectacle to see the men of the 
two armies intently observe each other. On the one 
side was the calm, pale face of the wounded ; on the 
other, the earnest, deep sympathy of the captive. No 
unkind look or word passed between them. Of the 
seventeen hundred prisoners, there was not one who 
w^ould not have given his coat, or reached for his last 
cent, to help his wounded brother. 

On the last day of September, after traveling more 
than eight hundred miles from the battle-field of 
Chickamauga, we arrived at Richmond, and the of- 
ficers of the Cumberland Army, to the number of 
about two hundred and fifty, were marched to Libby 
Prison. 

This building has a front of about one hundred and 
forty feet, with a depth of about one hundred and five. 
There are nine rooms, each one hundred and two feet 
long, by forty-five wide. The height of ceilings from 
the floor is about seven feet. The building is also 
divided into three apartments by brick walls, and 
there is a basement below. 

On entering the prison, w^e were severally searched, 
and every thing of value taken from us. Some of us 
saved our money by putting it into the seams of our 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 383 

garments before we arrived at Richmond. The officers 
of the Army of the Cumberhind were assigned to the 
middle rooms of the second and third stories. The 
lower middle room was used as a general kitchen, 
and the basement immediately below was fitted up 
with cells for the confinement and punishment of 
offenders. These rooms received the sobriquet of 
Chickamauga. 

The whole number of officers of the army and navy 
in prison at this time was about eleven hundred — all 
having access to each other, except those in the hos- 
pital. There were no beds or chairs, and all slept on 
the floor. I shared a horse blanket with Surgeon 
Dixon, of Wisconsin, which was the only bedding we 
had for some time. Our bread was made of unbolted 
corn, and was cold and clammy. We were sometimes 
furnished with fresh beef, corn beef, and sometimes 
with rice and vegetable soup. The men formed them- 
selves into messes, and each took his turn in prepar- 
ing such food as we could get. 

At one time, no meat was furnished for about nine 
days, and the reason given was, that their soldiers at 
the front required all they could obtain. During this 
period, we received nothing but corn bread. Kind 
friends sent us boxes of provisions from the North, 
which were opened and examined by the Confeder- 
ates, and if nothing objectionable was found, and it 
pleased them, the party to whom a box was sent was 
directed to come down and get it. Many of these 
were never delivered. Every generous soul shared 
the contents of his box with his more unfortunate 



334 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

companions. Had it not been for this provision, our 
life in Libby would have been intolerable. 

There was no glass in the windows, and for some 
time no fire in the rooms. An application for window 
glass, made during the severest cold w^eather, was 
answered by the assurance that the Confederates had 
none to furnish. The worst affliction, however, was 
the vermin, which invaded every department. 

Each officer was permitted to write home the 
amount of three lines per week; but even these 
brief messages were not always allowed to leave 
Richmond, 

A variety of schemes were adopted to improve or 
kill time. We played chess, cards, opened a theater, 
organized a band of minstrels, delivered lectures, 
established schools for teaching dancing, singing, the 
French language, and military tactics, read books, 
published a manuscript newspaper, held debates, and 
by these means rendered life tolerable, though by no 
means agreeable. 

An incident occurred, after we had been in prison 
some time, which made a deep impression upon every 
one. Some of our men had been confined in a block 
not far from Libby, called the Pemberton Building. 
An order had been issued to remove them to North 
Carolina. When they left, their line of march was 
along the street in our front, and when they passed 
under our windows, we threw out drawers, shirts, 
stockings, etc., which they gathered up; and when 
they raised their pale and emaciated faces to greet 
their old commanders, there were but few dry eyes 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 385 

in Libby. Many of them were making tlieir last 
march. 

Our sick were removed to the room set apart, on 
the ground floor, for a hospital ; and, when one died, 
he was put in a box of rough boards, placed in an 
open wagon, and rapidly driven away over the stony 
streets. There were no flowers from loving hands, 
and no mourning pageant, but a thousand hearts in 
Libby followed the gallant dead to his place of rest. 

We were seldom visited by any person. The only 
call I received was from General Breckenridge, of 
Kentucky ; I had known him before the war. Dur- 
ing our interview, I referred to the resources of the 
North and South, and asked him upon what ground 
he hoped the Confederacy could succeed. His only 
reply was, that, ^' five millions of people, determined 
to be free, could not be conquered." 

There being no exchange of prisoners at this time, 
projects of escape were discussed from the beginning. 
One scheme was, for a few persons at a time to put on 
the dress of a citizen, and attempt to pass the guard 
as ^sitors. A few actually recovered their liberty in 
this manner. Another plan was, to dig a tunnel to 
the city sewer, which was understood to pass under 
the street in front of the prison, and escape through 
that to the river. This project might have succeeded 
had not the water interfered. The final and successful 
plan was as follows: 

On the ground floor of the building, on a level with 
the street, was a kitchen containing a fire-place, at a 
33 



386 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

stove connected with which the prisoners inhabiting 
the rooms above did their cooking. Beneath this 
floor was a basement, one of the rooms in which was 
used as a store-room. This store-room was under the 
hospital and next to the street, and though not 
directly under the kitchen, was so located that it was 
possible to reach it by digging downward and rear- 
ward through the masonry work of the chimney. From 
this basement room it was proposed to construct a 
tunnel under the street to a point beneath a shed, 
connected with a brick block upon the opposite side, 
and from this place to pass into the street in the guise 
of citizens. A knowledge of this plan was con- 
fided to about twenty-five, and nothing was known of 
the proceedings by the others until tw^o or three days 
before the escape. A table knife, chisel, and spittoon 
w^ere secured for working tools, Avhen operations com- 
menced. Sufficient of the masonry was removed 
from the fire-place to admit the passage of a man 
through a diagonal cut to the store-room bclow^ ; and 
an excavation was then made through the foundation 
wall toward the street, and the construction of the 
tunnel proceeded night by night. But two persons 
could work at the same time. One would enter the 
hole with his tools and a small tallow candle, dragging 
the spittoon after him attached to a string. The 
other would fan air into the passage with his hat, and 
with another string w^ould draw out the novel dirt car 
wdien loaded, concealing its contents beneath the 
straw and rubbish of the cellar. Each morning be- 
fore daylight the working party returned to their 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 387 

rooms, after carefully closing the mouth of the tunnel, 
and skillfully replacing the bricks in the chimney. 

An error occurred during the prosecution of this 
work that nearly proved fatal to the enterprise. 
After a sufficient distance was supposed to have been 
made, an excavation was commenced to reach the top 
of the ground. The person working, parefuUy felt his 
way upward, when suddenly a small amount of the 
top earth fell in, and through this he could plainly see 
two sentinels apparently looking at him. One said to 
the other, " I have been hearing a strange noise in the 
ground there !'^ After listening a short time, the other 
replied that it was ^' nothing but rats." The working 
party had not been seen. After consultation, this 
opening was carefully filled with dirt and shored up. 
The work was then recommenced, and after digging 
about fifteen feet further the objective point under 
the shed was successfully reached. 

This tunnel required about thirty days of patient, 
tedious and dangerous labor. It was eight feet below 
the street, between sixty and seventy feet in length, 
and barely large enough for a full-grown person to 
crawl through, by pulling and pushing himself along 
with his hands and feet. Among the officers entitled 
to merit in the execution of this work. Col. T. E. 
Rose, of Pennsylvania, deserves particular mention. 

When all was complete, the company was organized 
into two parties ; the first under the charge of Major 
McDonald, of Ohio, and the second was placed under 
my direction. The parties having provided them- 
selves with citizens' clothing, which had at different 



388 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

times been sent to the prison by friends in the North, 
and having filled their pockets with bread and 
dried meat from their boxes, commenced to escape 
about seven p. m., on the 9th of February, 1864; 
Major McDonald's party leaving first. In order to 
distract the attention of the guard, a dancing party 
with music was extemporized in the same room. As 
each one had to pass out in the immediate presence of 
these Confederate soldiers, when he stepped into the 
street from the outside of the line, and as the guard 
were under orders to fire upon a prisoner escaping, 
without even calling upon him to halt, the first men 
who descended to the tunnel wore that quiet gloom 
so often seen in the army before going into battle. It 
was a living drama ; dancing in one part of the room, 
dark shadows disappearing through the chimney in 
another part, and the same shadows re-appearing 
upon the opposite walk, and the sentinel at his post, 
with a voice that rang out upon the evening air, 
announcing: "Eight o'clock. Post ~No. One,'' and 
"All is well !" and at the same time a Yankee soldier 
was passing in his front, and a line of Yankee soldiers 
w^ere crawling under his feet. The passage was so 
small that the process of departure was necessarily 
slow ; a few inches of progress only being made at 
each effort, and to facilitate locomotion outside gar- 
ments were taken oif and pushed forward. 

By this time the proceedings had become known to 
the whole prison, and as the first men emerged upon 
the street, and quietly walked away, seen by 
hundreds of their fellows, who crowded the win- 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 389 

dows, a wild excitement and enthusiasm were created, 
and they rushed down to the chimney, clamoring for 
the privilege of going out. It was the intention of 
the parties, organized by those who constructed the 
tunnel, that no others should leave until the next night, 
as it might materially diminish their own chances of 
escape. But the thought of liberty and pure air, and 
the death damp of the dark loathsome prison would 
not allow them to listen to any denial. Major 
McDonald and myself then held a parley, and it was 
arranged that the rope upon which we descended into 
the basement, after the last of the two parties had 
passed out, should be pulled up for the space of one 
hour; then it should be free to all in prison.* 

Having joined my fortunes with Col. T. S. West, of 
Wisconsin, we were among the last of the second 
party who crawled through. About nine o'clock in 
the evening we emerged from the tunnel, and cau- 
tiously crossing an open yard to an arched driveway, 
we stepped out upon the street and slowly walked 
away, apparently engaged in an earnest conversation. 
As soon as we were out of range of the sentinels' 
guns, we concluded it would be the safest course to 
turn and pass up through one of the main streets of 
Eichmond, as they would not suspect that prisoners 
escaping would take that direction. My face being 
very pale, and my beard long, clinging to the arm of 
Colonel W., I assumed the part of a decrepit old 



* Note. — One hundred and nine prisoners escaped through this 
tunnel that night, of whom fifty-seven reached our lines. 



390 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

man, wlio seemed to be in exceeding ill health, and 
badly affected with a consumptive cough. 

In this manner we passed beneath the glaring gas- 
lights, and through the crowded street, without creat- 
ing a suspicion as to our real character. We met the 
police, squads of soldiers, and many others, who gave 
me a sympathizing look, and stepped aside on account 
of my apparent infirmities. Approaching the suburbs 
of the town, we retreated into a ravine, which enabled 
us to leave the city Avithout passing out upon one of 
the streets. While in prison I copied McClellan's 
war map of Virginia, which aided us materially in 
this escape. Our objective points were to cross the 
Chickahominy above New Bridge, then cross the 
Yorkville Railroad, then strike and follow down the 
Miamisburg pike. 

After resting and breathing pure air, the first time 
for more than four months, we resumed our journey, 
agreeing not to speak above a whisper, avoiding all 
houses and roads, and determining our course by the 
North Star. In crossing roads, we traveled back- 
wards, that the footsteps might mislead our pursuers. 

We soon came in sight of the main fortifications 
around Richmond, and instantly dropping upon the 
ground we lay for a long time, listening and watching 
for the presence of sentinels upon that part of the 
line. Being satisfied that there were none in our 
immediate front, in the most silent and cautious man- 
ner, we crossed over the fortification and pursued our 
way through a tangled forest. Coming to a piece of 
low ground, tired and exhausted, we lay down to 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 391 

rest. Our attention was soon attracted by the pres- 
ence of a series of excavations ; and on a close exam- 
ination we found we were resting upon the battle- 
fiekl of Fair Oaks, and among the trenches in which 
the Confederates had buried our dead ; and, although 
it was the midnight hour, a strange feeling of safety 
stole over me, and I felt as if we were among our 
friends. It was the step and voice of the living that 
we dreaded. 

At early dawn (Wednesday) we crossed a brook, 
and went upon a hillside of low, thick pines to con- 
ceal ourselves, and rest during the day. The Valley 
of the Chickahominy lay before us. While in this 
concealment, we saw a blood-hound scenting our steps 
down to the place where we jumped over the brook ; 
it then went back and returned two or three times, 
but finally left without attempting to cross the little 
stream. Late in the evening, we went to the river and 
worked till after midnight to make or find a crossing. 
The water was deep and cold, and, failing to accom- 
plish our purpose, we turned back to a haystack, 
and, covering ourselves with hay, rested until the first 
light of morning (Thursday). 

Going back to the river, we followed down its 
course until we found a tree which had fallen nearly 
across the stream. Discovering a long pole, we found 
that it would just touch the opposite shore from the 
limbs of this tree. Hitching ourselves carefully along 
this pole, we reached the left bank of the Chicka- 
hominy River. 

We now felt as if escape was possible; but, hearing 



392 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

a noise like the approach of troops, for we were satis- 
fied that the enemy's cavalry must be in full pursuit, 
Ave fled into a neighboring forest. As we approached 
the center of a thicket, my eye suddenly caught the 
glimpse of a man watching us from behind the root 
of a fallen tree. I concluded that we had fallen into 
an ambush ; but our momentary apprehension was 
joyfully relieved by the discovery that this new-made 
acquaintance was Colonel W. B. McCreary, of Michi- 
gan, and with him Major Terrence Clark, of Illinois, 
who had gone through the tunnel with the first party 
that went out, and were now passing the day in this 
secluded place. The Colonel was one of my intimate 
friends, and when he recognized me he jumped to 
his feet and threw his arms around me in an ecstasy 
of delight. 

By this time the whole population had been in- 
formed of the escape, and the country was alive with 
pursuers. We could distinctly hear the reveille of 
the rebel troops, and the hum of their camps. Thus 
reinforced, we agreed to travel in company. It was 
arranged that one of the four should precede, search- 
ing out the way in the darkness, and giving due 
notice of danger. 

At dark we left our hiding place, and cautiously 
proceeded on our way. Late at night we crossed the 
railroad running from Richmond to White House, 
our second objective point. Here Colonel West saw 
a sentinel sitting close by the railroad, asleep, with 
his gun resting against his shoulder. Just before 
daybreak we went into a pine woods, after traveling 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 393 

a distance of more than twenty miles, and, weary and 
tired, we lay down to rest. 

The morning (Friday) broke clear and beautiful, 
but with its bright light came the bugle notes of the 
enemy's cavalry, who were in the pines close by us. 
We instantly arose and fled away at. the top of our 
speed, expecting every moment to hear the crack of 
the rifle, or the sharp command to halt. We struck a 
road and about faced to cross it, the only time that we 
looked back. We pursued our rapid step until we 
came to a dense chaparral, and into this we threaded 
our way until we reached an almost impenetrable jun- 
gle. Crawling into the center, we threw ourselves 
upon the ground completely exhausted. A bird flew 
into the branches above us as we lay upon our backs, 
and the words burst from my lips : " Dear little bird ! 
Oh, that I had your wings ! " 

As soon as friendly 'darkness again returned, we 
moved forward, weary, hungry, and footsore, still 
governed in our course by the I^orth Star. During 
all this toilsome way, but few words passed between 
us, and these generally in low whispers. So untiring 
was the search, and so thoroughly alarmed and watch- 
ful were the population, that we felt that our safety 
depended upon a bare chance. Again making our 
way from wood to wood, and avoiding farm houses as 
best we might, till the light of another morning (Sat- 
urday), we retired to cover in the shade of a thick 
forest. 

Saturday night the journey was resumed as usual. 
It was my turn to act the part of picket and pilot. 



394 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

While rapidly leading the way through a forest of 
low pines, I suddenly found myself in the presence of 
a cavalry reserve. The men were warming them- 
selves by a blazing fire, and their horses were tied to 
trees around them. I was surprised and alarmed ; 
but recovering my self-possession, I remained mo- 
tionless, and soon perceived that my presence was un- 
observed. Carefully putting one foot behind the other 
I retreated out of sight, and rapidly returned to my 
party. Knowing that there were videttes sitting 
somewhere at the front in the dark, we concluded to 
go back about two miles to a plantation, and call at 
one of the outermost negro houses for information. 
We returned, and I volunteered to make the call 
while the others remained concealed at a distance. 

I approached the door and rapped, and a woman's 
voice from within asked, " who was there ?" I replied, 
that "I was a traveler and had lost ray way, and 
wished to obtain some information about the road." 
She directed me to go to another house, but I declined 
to do so, and after some further conversation the door 
was opened, and I was surprised to find a large, good- 
looking negro standing by her side, who had been 
listening to the interview. He invited me to come in, 
and as soon as the door was closed, he said : " I know 
who you are ; you're one of dem 'scaped officers from 
Richmond." Looking him full in the face, I placed 
my hand firmly upon his shoulder, and said : '^ I am, 
and I know you are my friend." His eyes sparkled as 
he repeated : " Yes, sir ; yes, sir ; but you musn't stay 
here ; a reg'ment of cavalry is right thar'," pointing to 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 395 

a place near by, " and they pass this road all times of 
the night.'^ The woman gave me a piece of corn- 
bread and a cup of milk, and the man accom- 
panying me, I left the house, and soon finding my 
companions, our guide took us to a secluded spot in 
a canebrake, and there explained the situation of 
the picket in front. It was posted on a narrow neck 
of land between two impassable swamps, and over 
this neck ran the main road to Williamsburg. The 
negro proved to be a sharp, shrewd fellow, and we 
engaged him to pilot us round this picket. After 
impressing us in his strongest language with the 
danger both to him and to us of making the least 
noise, he conducted us through a long canebrake path, 
then through several fields, then directly over the 
road, crossing between the cavalry reserve and their vi- 
dettes, who were sitting upon their horses but a few rods 
in front, and then took us around to the pike about 
a mile beyond this last post of the rebels. After 
obtaining important information from him concerning 
the way to the front, and giving him a substantial re- 
ward, we cordially took his hand in parting. If good 
deeds are recorded in Heaven, this slave appeared in 
the record that night. 

The line of the pike was then rapidly followed as 
far as Diascum river, which was reached just at light 
Sunday morning. To cross this river without assist- 
ance from some quarter was found impossible. We 
tried to wade through it, but failed in this attempt. 
We were seen by some of the neighboring population, 
which largely increased our danger and trepidation; 



39G GENERAL HOBARTS NARRATIVE, 

for we had been informed by our guide that the 
enemy's scouts came to this point every morning. 
After awhile we succeeded in reaching an iskmd 
in the river, but could get no farther^ finding deep 
water beyond. We endeavored to construct a raft 
but failed. The water being extremely cold, and we 
being very wet and weary, we did not dare attempt to 
swim the stream ; and expecting every moment to see 
the enemy's cavalry, our hearts sank within us. 
At this juncture a rebel soldier was seen coming up 
the river in a row-boat with a gun. Requesting my 
companions to lie down in the grass, I concealed my- 
self in the bushes close to the water to get a good view 
of the man. Finding his countenance to indicate youth 
and benevolence, I accosted him as he approached. 

*^ Good morning ; I have been waiting for you; they 
told me up at those houses that I could get across the 
stream, but I find the bridge is gone, and I am very 
wet and cold; if you will take me over, I will pay you 
for your trouble." 

The boat was turned into the shore, and as I 
stepped into it I knew that boat was mine. Keeping 
my eye upon his gun, I said to him, " there are three 
more of us," and they immediately stepped into the 
boat. " Where do you all come from ?" said the boat- 
man, seeming to hesitate and consider. W^e repre- 
sented ourselves as farmers from difl^erent localities 
on the Chickahominy. "" The officers don't like to 
have me carry men over this river," he said, evidently 
suspecting who we were. I replied, " that is right ; you 
should not carry soldiers or suspected characters." 



GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 397 

Then placing my eyes upon hinij I said, ^' pass your boat 
over r' it sped to the otlier shore. We gave him one or 
two greenbacks, and he mpidly returned. We knew 
we were discovered, and that the enemy's cavalry 
would very soon be in hot pursuit, therefore we deter- 
mined, after consultation, to go into the first hiding 
place, and as near as possible to the river. The 
wisdom of this course was soon demonstrated. The 
cavalry crossed the stream, dashed by us, and 
thoroughly searched the country to the front, not 
dreaming but we had gone forward. We did not 
leave our seclusion until about midnight, and then 
felt our way with extreme care. The proximity to 
Williamsburg was evident from the destruction every 
where apparent in our path. There were no buildings, 
no inhabitants, and no sound save our own weary 
footsteps; desolation reigned supreme. Stacks of 
chimneys stood along our way like sentinels over the 
dead land. 

For five days and six nights, hunted and almost ex- 
hausted, with the stars for our guide, we had picked our 
way through surrounding perils toward the camp-fires 
of our friends. We knew we were near the outposts 
of the Union troops, and began to feel as if our trials 
were nearly over. But we were now in danger of 
being shot as rebels by scouting parties of our own 
army. To avoid the appearance of being spies, we 
took the open road, alternately traveling and conceal- 
ing ourselves, that we might reconnoiter the way. 
About two oVlock in the morning, coming near 
the shade of a dark forest that overhung the road, we 



398 GENERAL HOBART'S NARRATIVE. 

were startled, and brought to a stand, by the sharp and 
sudden command, " Halt !" Looking in the direction 
whence it proceeded, we discovered the dark forms of 
a dozen cavalrymen drawn up in line across the road. 
A voice came out of the darkness, asking, '^who are 
you ?" We replied, '' we are four travelers V' The same 
voice said, ^Mf you are travelers, come up herel^' 
Moving forward the cavalry surrounded us, and care- 
fully looking at their coats, I concluded they were 
gray, and was nerving myself for a recapture. It was 
a supreme moment to the soul. One of my compan- 
ions asked, " are you Union soldiers?" In broad 
Pennsylvania language the answer came, " well we 
are !" In a moment their uniforms chano^ed to 
glorious blue, and taking of our hats we gave one 
long exultant shout. It was like passing from death 
unto life. Our hearts filled with gratitude to Him 
whose sheltering arm had protected us in all that danger- 
ous way. Turning toward Richmond, I prayed in 
my heart that I might have strength to return to my 
command. 

I was afterwards in Sherman's advance to Atlanta; 
the March to the Sea and through the Carolinas; 
entered Richmond with the Western army; and had 
the supreme satisfaction of marching my brigade 
by Libby Prison. 



INDEX 



PAGE. 



March from Buckhannon, West Virginia, to Rich Mountain.... 18 

Battle of Rich Mountain. 24 

Beverly and Huttonville 26 

Incidents at Cheat Mountain Pass 28 

Camp at Elk Water 43 

The flag of truce 45 

Capture of De Lagniel 52 

The flood o 51 

The advance and retreat of Lee 67 

Ride to a log cabin in the mountains 68 

Moonlight and music 69 

The Hoosiers stir up the enemy 72 

The expedition to Big Springs 75 

The accomplished colored gentleman 78 

At Louisville, Kentucky 84 

March to Bacon Creek 86 

Incidents of the camp 87 

Trouble in the regiment 91 

A little unpleasantness with the Colonel 97 

A case of disappointed love 99 

The advance to Green River 103 

The march to Nashville .109 

A Southern lady wants protection 112 

John Morgan on the rampage 114 

Incidents at Nashville 116 

March to Murfreesboro 118 

(399) 



400 INDEX. 

PAGE. 

The dash into North Alaabma 124 

General O. M. Mitchell 127 

Kumors of the battle at Shiloh 131 

Aii'air at Bridgeport I35 

The rendezvou.s of the Bushwackers 138 

The negro preacher 141 

Provost Marshal of Huntsville 142 

Pudin' an' Tame 146 

Grape-vines from Richmond 151 

Garfield and Am men 156 

Two Pious men meet at Pittsburgh Landing 162 

Uncle Jacob tells a few stories 163 

De coon am a great liter 167 

General Ammen as a teacher 168 

The murder of General Robert McCook 169 

The race for the Ohio River 175 

The battle of Perryville, Kentucky 176 

Pursuit of Bragg 182 

The Army of the Cumberland 185 

Incidents on the way to Nashville 186 

Colonel H. C. Hobart 192 

The advance on Murfreesboro 198 

The battle of Stone River 201 

A ride over the battle-field 210 

The absentees ...., 217 

T. Buchanan Reid, the poet 225 

The Chiefs 235 

An interesting letter 244 

The Third starts on the Streight raid 246 

A good fighter 252 

General Rosecrans angry 255 

The Confederate account of Streight's surrender 267 



INDEX. 401 

PAGE. 

The lame horse 268 

Negley's party 277 

Go out to dinner 283 

Simon Bolivar Buckner (colored) 284 

Advance on TuUahoma 285 

The retreat of the enemy = 290 

The Peace party 297 

Fact vs. Fiction 299 

Board for the examination of applicants for commissions in 

colored regiments 312 

The advance to the Tennessee 319 

Cross the Tennessee 327 

Battle of Chickamauga 332 

Fight at Kossville , 346 

Incidents at Chattanooga ,o..., 348 

Battle of Mission Eidge .....356 

March to Knoxville 359 

General Sherman's letter ....360 

Camp at McAfFee's Spring 362 

Good-bye , 372 

General H. C. Hobart's Narrative 0.0... 379 

34 



p \ 



r?-;h 



: ^"^. 









.•A 






nO- 



...^> 



X 



■0' N 






/. '> 






^^ ^^ 









V> \N 



\J- .<<- 






,0o. 



"'^-' 


" ; 
















% 


/" 


* 




.^' 


"-^, 


'e 






%^'^- 






,o^ 












<. ' " 



t; 



.<■■ 























"^^ "* "r.^" .^0- 



















-^ ,A 






.v>^ 









\ - 















•' <^. 







